Karadeniz not to be affected by Russia-Turkey crisis

 

While the diplomatic crisis between Russia and Turkey that followed the Turkish shootdown of a Russian fighter jet in November has already gotten all the Russian clubs to cancel their training camps in Turkey, it won’t affect the Turkish football players plying their trade in Russia says sports minister Vitaly Mutko.

The most profilic Turk currently playing in the Russian Premier League is Rubin Kazan midfielder Gökdeniz Karadeniz who joined the Tatars in 2008. He became an immediate success at Rubin, and within his first two seasons at the club, he helped secure two league titles, while he also scored the winning goal against mighty Barcelona in a Champions League match 2009.

Asked about the future of the Turks playing in Russia, Mutko, who is also the president of the Russian Football Union, told TV station Rossiya 24:

“It [the crisis] cannot affect humanitarian, human contacts, and it cannot be stopped with administrative levers and we are not going to act so.”

About Karadeniz Mutko then stated:

“The man has been playing for one of the leading clubs and is loyal to football – what questions should we ask? Being a leading player, he is highly committed to the club.”

While Karadeniz is likely to stay in Kazan given, he recently extended his contract until the summer of 2018, Spartak Moscow’s half Turkish half German defender Serdar Tasci has been rumoured away from Russia because of the political climate. Tasci has been rumoured to both Besiktas and Trabzonspor, and like many other Spartak players he could leave the club this winter.

Lorenzo Melgarejo – A Los Guaraníes for Spartak Moscow

On November 6, Futbolgrad reported that Lorenzo Melgarejo was strongly linked to Spartak Moscow. Now that transfer appears to be imminent: in an interview with Cardinal Deportivo Melgarejo stated that a transfer to Spartak Moscow “is 90% [done]. Either this week or next week the matter will be resolved.”

Melgarejo later claimed that his words were greatly exaggerated, but at the same time he admittedthat his club Kuban Krasnodar was negotiating a transfer with Spartak Moscow. Spartak’s management meanwhile has stated that, at the moment, the club will not comment on any possible transfers.

Melgarejo’s earlier statements suggest that negotiations are indeed advanced. The fact that he later retracted his statement could have been prompted by a misinterpretation of his words, but could also have been caused by someone telling him to slow down on his statements.

After all, Melgarejo, who is valued €5 million according to transfermarkt.de, is Kuban Krasnodar’s blue chip prospect at the moment. Kuban desperately needs to cash in on the striker, because the club has significant debts. Kuban recently returned to the ownership of Oleg Mkrtchyan, who is making an effort to clear the club’s debt by selling one or two of their most promising players.

Mkrtchyan’s experience as a player agent also means that he will pursue a significant return on his investment through the sale of Melgarejo this winter. This would explain why Melgarejo retracted his earlier statements somewhat, as Kuban surely told him not to risk showing their hand while they were negotiating the contract with Spartak.

Regardless, it now seems only a matter of time before Melgarejo becomes a Spartak player. Melgarejo has scored eight goals so far this season, and the Paraguayan, who is equally adept both as a left winger and as a front line striker, could complement the front line at Spartak, a line that would be highly adept with several players up front who can play multiple positionthe Russian Football Union is now contemplating a change from the current foreign limitation rule—commonly called 6+5—that forces clubs to field at least five players who are eligible to play for the Russian national team. Changes to the rule could limit the number of legionnaires—as foreign players are commonly called in Russia—to six players per squad.

Spartak currently has nine legionnaires on their books, and adding Melgarejo to the squad would raise this number to 10. Right now, it is expected that Melgarejo will replace the Armenian Yura Movsisyan who is rumoured to return to Major League Soccer.

But Melgarejo’s arrival could also mean that Spartak’s Quincy Promes, who has been Spartak’s best striker this season, may be on the move this winter, as several English clubs—most recently Chelsea FC—are interested in the striker. Hence, Melgarejo’s signing could be the domino that sets off a chain of transfers.

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