From Arshavin to Pogrebnyak: How the Russia’s best strikers fared in the English Premier League

It’s fair to say that Dynamo Moscow’s Aleksandr Kokorin stands at something of a crossroads in his career.

Far from a regular goal scorer or starter for Dynamo, despite flashes of brilliance, the emerging target man has nevertheless been linked with a surprise move to the Premier League this January.

With Arsenal reportedly among the parties supposedly interested in Kokorin, the 24-year-old could be facing a potentially career defining decision.

But before he makes up his mind just yet, it could be worth looking at how some of Russia’s very best strikers fared in the Premier League.

Andrey Arshavin – Arsenal (2009-12)

One of the undoubted stars of Euro 2008, Arsene Wenger pulled off a major coup in bringing the Russian to the Emirates in early 2009, some 24 hours after the official January transfer deadline elapsed (a snowstorm had delayed his flight).

Given the no.23 shirt previously handed to Sol Campbell, Arshavin made an immediate impact with a four-goal haul in a 4-4 draw against Liverpool, a few games into his tenure, the undoubted highlight.

The next two seasons saw the Russian impress with 22 goals and 24 assists in 91 games for the club, including memorable displays and goals against Celtic, Everton, Liverpool and most notably Barcelona.

But after missing out on the 2010 World Cup with Russia, Arshavin began to cut a disinterested and, at times, alarmingly unfit figure at the club, later admitting that he found Wenger’s rotation policies “psychologically difficult.”

Loaned back to Zenit for the 2011-12 season in a bid to earn a place in Dick Advocaat’s Russia squad for Euro 2012, another disappointing year for club and country saw him return to England to see out the final year of his contract.

Now playing for Kuban Krasnodar in the Russian Premier League after his deal with Zenit ended after last season.

Verdict: An electric first few seasons at the Emirates had some suggesting he could be the club’s new Dennis Bergkamp. But a lack of application in the latter period of his time in north London undid much of the good he had done. Still left the club with plenty of good memories, if not silverware.

Roman Pavlyuchenko – Tottenham Hotspur (2008-12)

Having first caught the eye of English football fans with his match-winning brace for Russia in a 2-1 Euro 2008 qualifying win over the Three Lions, Pavlyuchenko was the main man for Guus Hiddink at the tournament where he three goals in Russia’s march to the semi-finals.

Signed by Tottenham for £13.7 million, Pavyluchenko enjoyed a solid debut season at White Hart Lane, with 14 goals in 36 games part of a solid haul of 42 goals in 113 appearances for the Lilywhites.

A consummate finisher whose aerial presence made him well suited to the demands of the English top-flight, in truth it was the presence of players like Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane, Darren Bent and even Fraiser Campbell that ultimately hindered his progress.

With competition for starting places proving intense to say the least, the Russian was rarely given the chance to establish himself as an automatic starter.

This was despite the fact Pavyluchenko regularly popped up with crucial goals for Spurs including goals against Chelsea and Liverpool in the Premier League and during Tottenham’s memorable Champions League campaign of 2010-11.

A bit part player during his final season, he was sold to Lokotmotiv Moscow just prior to the close of the 2012 January transfer window amid rumours of a bust-up with coach Kevin Bond.

Spurs would go on to struggle without the Russian, as backup as direct replacement Louis Saha went on to disappoint, eventually finishing behind Arsenal in 4th and missing out on the Champions League after Chelsea lifted the trophy.

Super Pav, as he was named by the Tottenham fans, are now, just like Arshavin, playing for Kuban.

Verdict: Arguably Russia’s most consistent footballing export, Pavyluchenko was a consistent force during his time with Spurs and impressed on plenty of occasions. Could have achieve far more at a different club though.

Pavel Pogrebnyak – Fulham (2012) & Reading (2012-15)

Top scorer during Zenit’s successful 2008 Europa League campaign, a knee injury robbed Pogrebnyak of the chance to impress at his absolute peak during the following summer’s European Championship.

A Premier League move always looked likely though and though a January 2009 switch to Blackburn Rovers ultimately collapsed, the Russian finally got his chance three years later, via an underwhelming spell with Stuttgart.

Signed by Fulham on a short-term contract in January 2012, Pogrebnyak made an electric start to life at Craven Cottage, scoring a record five goals in his first three games for the London club, including a perfect hat-trick against Wolves.

Despite impressing with the Cottagers, the Russian failed to agree a long-term deal with the club and moved on to newly promoted Reading the following season a four-year deal.

Pogrebnyak started well enough, scoring against Chelsea and netting a winner in a 3-2 win over West Bromwich Albion but he struggled to maintain that form over the course of the season with Reading ultimately relegated after a campaign in which the Russian bagged just five league goals.

Having developed an appreciation for English life, Pogrebnyak remained with the Royals, scoring 21 goals in 71 games with the Championship side.

Now back in Russia with Dynamo Moscow.

Editorial: Santana Signing Shows Kuban’s Disrespect towards Own Players

Kuban Krasnodar’s signing of Brazilian defender Felipe Santana from Schalke 04 came as a bolt from the blue. The Toads from Krasnodar have been in dire financial problems for a long time now, and the amount of unpaid wages keeps on growing despite oligarch Oleg Mkrtchyan reportedly promising to invest in the club again once half the debt is gone.

In September last year, Kuban’s debt reached €4 million, and since then it has only grown much larger. The players and staff of the club have gone months without being paid, something that led to midfielder Sergey Tkachyov filing a complaint to the Russian Football Union’s Conflict Resolution Chamber in December, asking to get his contract terminated. This wish was later granted, and today, a few hours before Kuban announced the signing of Santana, Tkachyov signed a four-year deal with CSKA Moscow.

If we are to believe the many rumours surrounding the Yellow-Greens, several players are strongly considering following in the footsteps of Tkachyov, including these goalkeeper Aleksandr Belenov and midfielder Vladislav Ignatiev. Furthermore, Bulgarian Vladimir Gadzhev, who joined Kuban from Levski Sofia last week, has, according toSport-Express, been told to leave the club again, as Kuban simply cannot afford him.

Meanwhile, Roman Pavlyuchenko, who joined the Krasnodar-side five months ago, is currently owed around $550,000 and has threatened to boycott the club until he is paid.

For Kuban, who have conceded 28 goals in 18 matches, which is the second-worst in the league, signing an experienced defender is probably a good move. Santana has won two Bundesliga titles, the German Cup, and helped Dortmund reach the Champions League final in 2013, but it sends an awful signal to the rest of the players.

With players literally leaving left and right due to unpaid wages, bringing in a highly paid foreign star like Santana, shows just how little Kuban cares about them. Especially since Kuban are currently banned from registering new players because of their crippling debt, which means he won’t even be allowed to play if things continue to stand as they currently are.

The signal of the Santana signing becomes even worse, thinking of how Kuban did exactly the same six months ago when Pavlyuchenko and Andrey Arshavin were signed. Last season, the club was also unable to play the players on a regular basis, but instead of sorting out the debt, they signed two of the most famous Russian players in the last decade, players they in hindsight clearly couldn’t afford.

The signing of Santana could very well be the straw that breaks the camel’s back to convince the players currently considering their situation to leave the club, as Kuban clearly prefers to get in new players rather than paying the ones they already have. It is simply highly disrespectful towards the players who have fought for the club, to use whatever money Kuban can find underneath the couch or forgotten in the stands on new players.

At the same time, the signing is poor news for the young players at the club, who could have hoped that the financial problems would make their way to the first team easier, like we have seen for example with Dinamo.

Santana has signed a contract lasting for the next 2.5 years. It will be interesting to see what’s left of Kuban by then. Perhaps they will be moved to Sochi, something that has often been rumoured in the past.

#	Team	MP	W	D	L	F	A	G	P
1	CSKA Moskva	18	11	4	3	29	18	+11	37
2	Rostov	18	10	4	4	23	16	+7	34
3	Lokomotiv Moskva	18	9	5	4	30	23	+7	32
4	Spartak Moskva	18	9	3	6	26	23	+3	30
5	Krasnodar	18	8	6	4	29	19	+10	30
6	Zenit	18	8	6	4	34	23	+11	30
7	Terek Grozny	18	6	10	2	25	17	+8	28
8	Ural	18	7	5	6	28	28	+0	26
9	Rubin Kazan'	18	6	2	10	20	25	-5	20
10	Amkar Perm'	18	5	5	8	16	22	-6	20
11	Dinamo Moskva	18	4	8	6	20	25	-5	20
12	Krylya Sovetov	18	5	4	9	12	20	-8	19
13	Ufa	18	3	7	8	16	28	-12	16
14	Anzhi	18	3	6	9	18	31	-13	15
15	Kuban' Krasnodar	18	2	9	7	25	28	-3	15
16	Mordovia Saransk	18	2	8	8	19	24	-5	14