Lokomotiv Moscow’s appointment of Ilya Gerkus as president has started a new era in the red-green part of Moscow. With the departure of now former president Olga Smorodskaya, the Railwaymen are now closer than ever to returning to the state of hopeful peace that was created by Valeriy Filatov and Yuri Semin years ago and later destroyed by the Smorodskaya administration.
The first step of the new management was to remove the many rotten apples from the club. Life.ru reported that around 30 people have already left Lokomotiv alongside Smorodskaya, which clearly shows how the Margarat Thatcher of Russian football surrounded herself with people known for their loyalty rather than their knowledge about football.
The best example of this is the former sports director Kirill Kotov, or rather the son-in-law of Smorodskaya. Despite successful transfers like Vitaly Denisov, Vedran Corluka, Aleksandr Samedov, Dame N’Doye and Baye Oumar Niasse, Kotov has always been the core of critics due to his awful relations with the fans and several questionable decisions and bad results over the years.
Consequently, Kotov has been replaced with Igor Korneev, who is now trusted with rebuilding Lokomotiv together with Gerkus. Korneev is a well-known figure in Russian football both for his past as an excellent midfielder – he represented Barcelona between 1994 and 1995 -as well as for his role as technical director at Zenit St. Petersburg.
The first objective was to keep captain and superstar Vedran Corluka on the books. It’s fair to say that this wasn’t the easiest job considering the exceptional performance of the Croatian defender at the recent European Championship in France. Corluka was arguably among the best defenders of the tournament and, hence, many clubs had knocked on Lokomotiv’s door to enquire about him.
The same Korneev admitted these rumors to Championat.com: “We actually received offers for Corluka. Both from the clubs reported by the media (Fiorentina, Valencia, Bayern) and also two from England. The interest from Europe was serious. However, for our management, it’s obvious the role of Corluka in the team. Both in professional and human terms. We must build Lokomotiv around him.”
Corluka is an irreplaceable leader and his departure would have generated only discontent in any fan. That’s why Korneev and Gerkus did everything in order to keep the Croatian superstar in Moscow. On August 16, his extension at Lokomotiv was finally announced. He’ll reportedly earn €16m euros over the next four years, which consolidates his spot as one of the best paid players in the RFPL.
Now, the priority is to reinforce the team. As Corluka underlined in his press-conference, that’s exactly what the Railwaymen need: “We have a good team which has played together for four years. If someone new arrives, it’d be great.”
At the same time, Korneev has already uncovered and decided the positions that need to be reinforced: “We want to sign a striker, some players of the offensive line and a centre-back. Maybe, also a central midfielder,” he said.
The latest reports from Russia suggests that these three players are be Terek Grozny’s Andrey Semenov and Oleg Ivanov, and Everton’s Baye Oumar Niasse. Gerkus is in fact said to be doing everything in order to bring the Senegalese striker back to Lokomotiv after he left the team last winter. Centre-back Semenov is expected to be the Russian replacement to Jan Durica, who has signed for Turkish side Trabzonspor this summer, while the both physically strong and technically gifted Ivanov, who was a part of Russia’s Euro squad, is just the player Loko’s midfield need.
However, that’s not all. With Korneev on the board, Lokomotiv can rely on an experienced manager with several links to the European market. He was for example the man behind the arrivals of Bruno Alves and Domenico Criscito to Zenit. Therefore, it is natural if the hopes of Red-Green fans starts growing now; especially considering the club is still owed €10m from former French star Lassana Diarra. If the money arrives before the end of the window, the Railwaymen could be very active during the last two weeks of the summer transfer window.
In the meantime, Gerkus has already strengthened head coach Oleg Pashinin’s staff with the comebacks of legendary Dmitriy Loskov and Zaur Khapov respectively as assistant and goalkeeping coach. Yury Semin is said to be on the verge of returning as well, with the Russian Sir Alex Ferguson set to be a crucial part in the Lokomotiv’s renaissance. The new additions to the staff are a part of Gerkus and Korneev’s plan to fulfil their ambitious goals for the club.
“We want to make Lokomotiv the best brand in Russia,” Gerkus revealed to the press.
“We want to start earning money from the sale of players. That’s one of the club’s tasks,” Korneev underlined in a recent interview.
For the first time in years, Lokomotiv seem to have clear idea on what to do and how to do it. New players will certainly arrive at Cherkizovo in the upcoming days, and they’ll join what looks like a completely different club compared to Smorodskaya’s.
The management has started well in their effort to return Lokomotiv to the top of Russian football, but the Railroaders still have a long way to go.
Only time will tell whether Gerkus and Korneev are the right men to succeed in this business, but Lokomotiv seems to be on the right path. The key word is patience. Under Smorodskaya’s reign, Lokomotiv fans had plenty of this, and if the club finally gets leaders who can move it forward, the sky could start to clear up for the Red-Greens who have suffered so much in recent years. Nevertheless, well begun is half done as everybody know, and the renaissance is off to a good start.
BY
BY
| Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | G | P | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CSKA Moskva | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 7 |
| 2 | Krasnodar | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 1 | +7 | 7 |
| 3 | Spartak Moskva | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 7 |
| 4 | Amkar Perm' | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 5 |
| 5 | Zenit | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 5 |
| 6 | Anzhi | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 4 |
| 7 | Ural | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 4 |
| 8 | Rostov | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | +0 | 4 |
| 9 | Tom' Tomsk | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 4 |
| 10 | Terek Grozny | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 4 |
| 11 | Arsenal Tula | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | -4 | 3 |
| 12 | Lokomotiv Moskva | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | +0 | 3 |
| 13 | Rubin Kazan' | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 2 |
| 14 | Krylya Sovetov | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 1 |
| 15 | Orenburg | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 1 |
| 16 | Ufa | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 1 |
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário