Introduction:
Aleksandr Samedov is a Muscovite who, despite changing clubs four times, has never played for a team outside of the Russian capital. He graduated from Spartak’s academy and was a regular at The People’s Team, but had to leave them when Spartak signed Russian international Vladimir Bystrov. With his next club, Lokomotiv, Samedov won the Russian Cup in 2007. In 2008, he moved to FC Moscow, a team which ceased to exist due to bankruptcy two years later. Afterwards, Samedov joined his fourth club from Moscow, Dinamo, where he finally became one of the stars of Russian football. His performances for Dinamo convinced Lokomotiv to sign him back, and in 2015, he was one of the stars on the team that won the Russian Cup.
Samedov is one of the few Russian right midfielders in the Russian League and the only one in the current squad. Despite that, he is considered a backup, as Slutsky clearly prefers to play either Aleksandr Kokorin or Fedor Smolov, who are both forwards.
Strengths and weaknesses:
At Lokomotiv, Aleksandr Samedov plays as right midfielder in a 4-2-3-1 formation. He has always been known as a touchline hugging player with tremendous crossing skills, a classic wide player, who can make an accurate pass to the box from the final third.
However, several seasons ago Samedov began to change his style of play. Instead of going wide, he was dribbling to the centre like Arjen Robben, which gave birth to the popular Twitter account “Samedov’s left foot”, which has a nickname @RobbenStyle.
It took Samedov several years to adapt to a new style, but now he is a much more versatile player. He also became more useful for the national team, which hasn’t played with wide midfielders under the last few coaches.
Samedov is a regular set piece taker for his team and considered one of the best in Russia. If he gets a chance to play at the Euros, he will certainly get this role.
As for weaknesses, the Railwayman doesn’t have too much speed or creativity. He is good at one-touch finishing, but when he controls the ball, he is rarely a goal threat himself. If Kokorin is in form, he will start the game as a more versatile and dangerous player.
The 2015/2016 season:
Recently Samedov has managed to gain momentum before major tournaments. He topped the league in assists in 2012 with 18. In 2014, his form helped Lokomotiv to fight for the title for the first time in a decade with seven goals and nine assists. This season has been no exception, as he became the team’s best scorer and assist-maker (14+6 in 36 games). Unfortunately, for Samedov, Lokomotiv fell short of expectations once again, but the winger turned out to a true leader of his team and one of the few bright spots. This should give confidence to the player, who, despite his experience, hasn’t played a lot of games at international level.
