Game and money: the most expensive purchases of RPL clubs before the start of the season

The beginning of the new season is the traditional time for updates. The summer transfer window is open, and teams will be able to buy and sell players until September. But there is a caveat. This weekend, the matches of the first round of the Russian Premier League will be held, which means, ideally, all 16 clubs of the elite division should approach these confrontations fully armed. In any case, we should try, at least with the resources available at the moment.

Read more about how the RPL clubs conducted the summer transfer campaign, who spent the most and who still needs strengthening, in the Izvestia article.

Who spent how much

In this "weight category", you won't be surprised by the leader for a long time. Zenit St. Petersburg is already ahead of everyone by a wide margin. In order to regain the title of Russian champion given to Krasnodar last season, the blue-white-blues spent €32.7 million. And only two players: 28-year-old Brazilian midfielder Gerson, who was bought from Flamengo for €25 million, and 21-year-old Argentine left-back Roman Vega, for whom Argentinos Juniors received €7.7 million. And it seems that this is far from the limit. There are many rumors, and some of them may well become real.

Krasnodar is currently in second place in terms of spending. The reigning champion of Russia so far adheres to the principle of "keeping all the leaders" rather than "strengthening to the fullest". Who knows, maybe this tactic will turn out to be quite working: it's unlikely that the best team in the country should change anything if everything was already great. However, the bulls have already made some acquisitions.

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Krasnodar's most expensive newcomer at the moment is 28—year-old Brazilian central midfielder Douglas Augusto. For him, the French Nantes received € 6.5 million from the Southerners. Krasnodar got another player from the French Ligue 1 for free: 31-year-old Brazilian central defender Jubal became a free agent after leaving Auxerre. Three more purchases cost the bulls a total of €1.45 million: 24-year-old Brazilian winger Gustavo Furtado from Greek Lamia and 23-year-old goalkeeper Alexander Koryakin from Rodina were bought for €500 thousand each, and 28-year—old central defender from Chernomorets Vitaly Stezhko for €450 thousand .

Dynamo Moscow are also in the top 5 in terms of spending on the transfer market (€6.7 million; the most expensive purchase is 30-year—old striker Ivan Sergeev from Krylia Sovetov for €3.8 million), CSKA (€5.1 million spent for one 20-year-old Brazilian midfielder Mateus Alves) and ... Akhmat, which was purchased for €4.2 million (the most expensive deals are 28—year-old Argentine winger Brian Mansilla from Orenburg for €1.7 million and 27-year-old Angolan midfielder Egash Kasintura, who speaks excellent Russian, from Dynamo Makhachkala for €1.2 million).

So far, the transfer activity of Spartak Moscow is very surprising among the top players. The Red-Whites signed only one player without spending a penny: 34-year-old striker Anton Zabolotny went to Spartak for free, because after the exclusion of Khimki from professional football, Anton, like all former players of the Moscow region team, had to look for a new job.

Who's in the black

Rostov (+4.4 million euros), Krylia Sovetov (+3.8 million euros), Krasnodar (+3.45 million euros), Orenburg (+3 million euros) and Lokomotiv (+2.23 million euros) were in the top 5 in terms of transfer revenue.

Rostov residents made two Moscow clubs happy with their sales: 31-year-old central defender Maxim Osipenko went to Dynamo (€2.9 million), and 30—year-old striker Nikolay Komlichenko went to Lokomotiv (€1.5 million). So far, Sergeyev has become the only source of profit for Krylia. Seven more players have left due to the expiration of their contract. Well, Vladimir Pisarsky was banned for betting on football matches.

As for the other three clubs from the top, the most expensive sales there were 29-year-old Brazilian defender Cayo (Krasnodar received €2 million from Botafogo for him), the previously mentioned Mansilla (to Akhmat for €1.7 million) and 26-year-old Armenian left-back Nair Tiknizyan. who transferred to the Serbian Crvena Zvezda for €1.7 million.

The most promising acquisitions

At the moment, RPL clubs have acquired 12 players worth € 1 million or more. All the others are either cheaper, or for rent, or for free. And most of all, the expectations are from players who occupy places in the top five in terms of purchase price, which is logical: the more expensive a football player is, the higher the demand for him.

Of course, it is very interesting to see how Gerson, who formally joined Zenit to replace Wendel, will perform in the new conditions. It is not yet clear whether he will leave or not. But a lot is clearly expected from the former Flamengo captain, who recently played in the club World Cup, as well as the current player of the Brazilian national team.

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Two Brazilian midfielders, Augusto in Krasnodar and Alves in CSKA, should also strengthen the middle line of their teams, adding variability to them. The same Alves can still be very profitably sold by the army to Europe in the future if he demonstrates high-class football.

And, of course, it is impossible not to mention Ivan Sergeev. After Konstantin Tyukavin's injury, Dynamo was in great need of a versatile scoring forward. And preferably with a Russian passport. And so they got it. Sergeev is a great option to replace Tyukavin, and when Konstantin returns to the lineup, they can play as a pair.

Who else needs to get stronger

Spartak definitely needs a boost. You can't keep up with medals on Zabolotny alone. There is a big experienced striker, it remains to acquire a central and extreme defender, as well as a central midfielder. And let's hope that Ugalde is not taken away, otherwise we will have to consider another highly qualified, mobile forward.

And the red-whites also need to keep in mind the possible departure of midfielder Ezequiel Barco. The Argentine star may return to his homeland because of his family: they write that without this, his wife will not allow him to see the child.