Premiere order: Zenit has a record sale and a high-profile exchange
There have been many high-profile transfers in the Russian Premier League in recent days. Zenit and CSKA have swapped strong players: Igor Diveev moves to St. Petersburg, Luciano Gondu joins the ranks of the army. Also, the blue-white-blues made a record sale to the Brazilian championship, sending Gerson to Cruzeiro. Rubin has finally decided on a head coach. For more information, see the Izvestia article.
The big deal
The exchange of Luciano Gonda for Igor Diveev has been officially confirmed. The Zenit striker will continue his career at CSKA. The 24-year-old striker's contract runs until the end of the 2029/30 season. The Argentine will play for the Army under the 32nd game number. Gondu has been playing for Zenit since August 2024. He has 13 goals and three assists in 51 games for the team in all competitions.
The Army team intensified their attack, but lost a key central defender. Igor Diveev — Zenit player: the agreement with the 26-year-old is calculated until the end of the 2028/29 season. The Russian has been playing for the red-Blues since February 2019. During this time, he scored 20 goals and provided five assists in 203 matches in all competitions. Diveev won the Russian Cup twice and the National Super Cup once as a member of CSKA.
Both Diveev and Luciano are serious masters who have managed to prove themselves in the RPL on separate segments. Only for each of them there are a number of nuances that are now impossible to predict.
In Igor's case, they relate primarily to his state of health. This season, the defender performs well, and most importantly — on a regular basis. It remains to be hoped that this will continue. But it is the constant injuries that have caused Diveev to miss a lot of matches over the past few years that clearly hinder his further progress. In May last year, Marko Nikolic bluntly stated that the football player had chronic Achilles problems. From this we can conclude that the sore can return at any time.
In addition, Diveev is a bulky and heavy football player, which means that the load on ligaments and tendons is higher than that of an average player. However, according to Izvestia, Zenit believes that thanks to the high level of medicine at the club, it will be possible to fix the defender's health problems, if not eliminate them.
Zenit is probably thinking ahead, bearing in mind the imminent tightening of the limit on foreign players. Plus, it's highly likely that Nino will return to Brazil at the end of the season for family reasons. But right now, Diveev's transfer is unlikely to bring tangible dividends to St. Petersburg (given the presence of Erakovich and Drkusic in the team, each of whom complements Nino well).
As for Luciano, he's a real cat in a poke. A strong last season and weak competition in the CSKA attack center speak in his favor. Unlike Diveev, the Argentine is probably considered a starter here and now. The only question is whether he is able to fit into Fabio Celestini's formations and bring tangible benefits, primarily by scoring goals in the expected number.
Performance has never been Luciano's hallmark. Even in the Argentine championship, his best score is 15 goals in 40 matches of the 2022/23 season. This forward is good in a floating role: he is able to play on the flank, perform several tasks per match, but none of them are at the highest level. Even at Zenit, Luciano gave out his best performances, coming out in the nominal position of the right winger, when the center forward distracted attention to himself, and he himself guarded the moments at the far post.
With benefits
Gerson is the most high—profile transfer of the RPL last summer. Even in the fattest years for our clubs, buying a Brazilian national team player for €25 million is a huge event, and even more so now.
But it didn't work out. Fortunately for Zenit, they managed to get out of the situation without financial losses and even turned out to be in the black. Cruzeiro was sent to St. Petersburg from above. The Brazilians set a record for their league by making the largest transfer to the entrance (as compensation, the blue-white-Blues will receive slightly less than € 30 million directly for the player, as well as the rights to a number of players from the Brazilian club's system). At least we'll make history here. Saudi Arabia was also on the horizon, but Gerson didn't seem to want to go there. And someone else would hardly have given such a substantial sum for a moody Latin American.
A vivid presentation with the Joker in St. Petersburg, powerful multimillion—dollar deals on buying and selling, the Brazilian national team - Gerson will be remembered only for this. Not directly related to the game of football. Here, everything turned out to be so gray and dreary that there was nothing to cling to. Not like with the Hulk or Danny, you can't even put Cassierra on the same level. There was and there was. Like some kind of Marchisio. With a lazy movement on the field and an indifferent expression on his face, the Brazilian quickly made it clear that he had no motivation. It was as if he had been forced to go to Russia. And with such a mood, nothing will work, even if you are Messi.
"The man didn't want to play in St. Petersburg, he wanted to return home," said Andrei Kanchelskis, a former Manchester United and Russian national team midfielder, in a conversation with Izvestia. "What's the big deal?" He said he didn't want to. He didn't like it. Someone likes it: they praise the city, the club. Everything is good and beautiful for them. And this one didn't like it. Why? I can't answer that. Let Semak speak.
Top clubs in Europe and China
Barcelona, Inter, PSG and Juventus, as well as Monaco and Porto, are interested in Lokomotiv midfielder Alexei Batrakov. This is reported by journalist Ekrem Konur on the social network X. According to the source, the Railwaymen are ready to part with the 20-year-old midfielder for € 35-40 million.
The Russian's contract with Lokomotiv is valid until the summer of 2029. The Transfermarkt portal estimates the player's value at €25 million.
On January 7, Batrakov's agent stated that there had been no recent interest in the midfielder from other clubs.
In the 2025/26 season, the midfielder played 23 matches, scored 15 goals and made six assists. In total, he has 66 games, 31 goals and 16 assists for Loko.
Another RPL player can continue his career in a foreign championship. The agent of Dynamo midfielder Denis Makarov, Alexey Babyr, noted that there is a demand for the player in China.
— I had a conversation with one of the Chinese league clubs. This is a pretty good club, we talked with the sports director. Denis still has six months before the end of his contract with Dynamo, and he is going to training camp. But there is interest in Makarov, there are conversations. Let's see how it ends," Babyr told Izvestia.
Makarov has been playing for Dynamo since 2021. In the 2025/26 season, he participated in 12 matches for the blue and white in all competitions, scoring three goals and one assist.
One more chance
According to Sport-Express, coach Frank Artiga will fly to Kazan on January 12 to sign a contract with Rubin. Recall that on January 10, the press service of Petru Athletico from Angola announced that Artiga had left the post of head coach. The 49-year-old Spanish specialist already has work experience in Russia. He worked at Rodina from January to June 2024, and then coached Khimki (2024-2025).
—Artiga is a top coach," Dmitry Selyuk, the specialist's agent, told Izvestia. Rubin made the right choice. I am sure that the local players will progress under Frank's leadership.
On December 17, the media reported that Rubin would dismiss Rashid Rakhimov as head coach. He has been leading the Kazan team since April 2023. After 18 rounds of the Russian 2025/26 Championship, Rubin ranks seventh in the table with 23 points.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
