Introduction:
Receiving your call up to the national squad for a major tournament should be a proud moment for any player, but coming less than a week before the first fixture when, by your own admission, you are out of shape, it becomes a more frantic affair. Artur Yusupov was holidaying in Monaco at the same time as Russia played out a turgid 1-1 warmup draw there against Serbia, by all accounts even staying in the same hotel, when Igor Denisov picked up a hamstring injury. The convenience of his presence in the principality was pure coincidence, however, as Leonid Slutskiy had for some reason neglected to name a provisional squad or a standby list, with Yusupov reportedly claiming on Sunday that ‘people would laugh‘ if he was called up given his lack of training for the previous fortnight.
The resulting call to arms for the Zenit St Petersburg midfielder descended further into farce as it transpired that there was no time for him to dash back to Moscow and collect some basic equipment, even having to borrow some boots just to take part in Monday’s training session. The choice of Yusupov as cover has been hotly debated, with many considering Dmitry Tarasov a more direct replacement. Despite the absence of Denisov and Alan Dzagoev, it is unlikely Yusupov will add to the two caps he currently has unless there are further injuries.
Strengths and weaknesses:
A harsh cynic might say his greatest strength is his Russian passport, as it made him an attractive enough option for Zenit St. Petersburg last summer to bolster their back up options for foreign stars Javi Garcia and Axel Witsel. Having said that, Yusupov does have an encouraging instinct in the attacking third, as he showed in the Russian Cup final against CSKA to make the run that created his goal, and his passing is tidy. His formative football years were spent not far from his native Samara at the famous Yehven Konoplyanko Academy (which also produced Alan Dzagoev) where he honed his technique.
He has rarely nailed down a specific role within the rather broad modern spectrum of ‘midfield’, and has more often than not been seen as a versatile squad member rather than a standout first choice. This is partly down to his awareness; often his passing will be accurate but unimaginative as his body positioning often leaves him short of options. Although he attempted more tackles per 90 minutes than anyone else last season (other than ViktorFaizullin, who only played 185 minutes) according to InStat with 8, his success rate was one of the lowest with only 38% of those challenges being successful. His goalscoring record is poor, even for a more defensive minded player; eight goals in the last four seasons in all competitions is easily trumped by Axel Witsel’s 21 over the same period. In the immediate short term, his major weakness for the Euros will be his fitness and match sharpness.
The 2015-16 season:
Andre Villas-Boas brought him in last summer after the foreigners restrictions were tightened as a squad player initially, but he still managed 19 league starts as Zenit suffered a number of injuries. Of those matches he onlycompleted seven, which is his lowest personal tally in the last four seasons. He could hardly be blamed for taking theZenit bait, and he can point to that winner in the Russian Cup victory over CSKA, but unless Witsel makes a big-money move abroad after the Euros, it is hard to see him forcing his way into the starting XI in the autumn.
Other than the Cup win, escaping the Dinamo fire sale was probably Yusupov’s highlight before his late call up, but missing out on Champions League qualification will put extra pressure on his teammates and him to impress newmanager Mircea Lucescu, who has a famously short temper and could be extremely hard to please. A successfulshowing in France could go a long way towards smoothing Yusupov’s transition.
