Over the last few days, there have been rumours linking Rubin Kazan’s Elmir Nabiullin with a move to England, with Southampton named as a club particularly interested. His agent Thomas Zorn tweeted that they have received several calls from English and German clubs alike, a follow up to confirmation that German clubs made enquiries in summer also.
A Russian moving to one of the big leagues is a rarity in recent years, so many will question whether the the 20 year old left back is ready for for this move. Since 2008, only 5 Russians have graced the Premier League, Andrei Arshavin, Yury Zhirkov, Pavel Pogrebnyak, Diniyar Biliyaletdinov and Roman Pavlyuchenko. At the time of their moves, each were established players, arguably in the prime of their careers, so for a 20 year old to leave Russia would be almost unprecedented, even more so when considering he would come from a club outside of St Petersburg and Moscow, where all the aforementioned came from.
So who really is Elmir Nabiullin? The Kazan native burst onto the scene in 2014 following the appointment of Rinat Bilyaletdinov as manager. Bilyaletdinov bought a new mentality to the club and was always in favour of giving youth a chance and following a successful winter training camp, he was thrown in for his debut against Anzhi in the first game back, going on to make another 5 appearances before the end of the season.
Early impressions were very good. Despite the club going through a very tough spell, Nabiullin was a bright light, and it was clear that despite his inexperience, he was not fazed by his sudden promotion, and he produced some staunch displays, with his outstanding attribute being his electric speed, but also possessing very good close control and crossing ability for a defender.
Over the following season and a half, Nabiullin became a mainstay in the Rubin team, and following a string of impressive performances in the 14/15 season, he made his debut in the Russian national team in March 2015 against Kazakhstan, just 2 weeks after his 20th birthday. Despite playing wholly at left back so far in his career, Bilyaletdinov began to have other ideas, and he stated in an interview that he saw his future higher up the pitch, and compared Nabiullin to a young Gareth Bale.
Fabio Capello, Elmir Nabiullin and Sergei Semak.
Nabiullin was chucked in at the deep end as a left winger for the first time shortly afterwards, away at Zenit of all places, but he didn’t take long to back up his boss’s claims, as he scored his 1st goal for Rubin after just 4 minutes of the game following a very intelligent diagonal run, followed up by a very composed finished.
While Rubin’s form has actually declined again, Nabiullin has remained a steady figure in the team, with assured performances at left back and left wing throughout the tough start to the 15/16 they had. Luckily for him, he has had the chance to show himself on one of Europe’s biggest stage this year, as Rubin have been playing in the Europa League, including two games against Liverpool, where he once more showed the composed performances he churns out on a regular basis.
While it would be expected for a talented young Russian to move to one of the country’s bigger sides, Nabiullin certainly has the potential to try his luck in the big leagues, and with an agent based in Western Europe there is certainly a better chance than normal for this to happen. He certainly possesses the physical capabilities to cope in England or Germany and with a good, calm attitude, this level headed youngster, arguably one of the top young full backs in Europe, could well be set for the top if someone takes the gamble.
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