It’s fair to say that Dynamo Moscow’s Aleksandr Kokorin stands at something of a crossroads in his career.
Far from a regular goal scorer or starter for Dynamo, despite flashes of brilliance, the emerging target man has nevertheless been linked with a surprise move to the Premier League this January.
With Arsenal reportedly among the parties supposedly interested in Kokorin, the 24-year-old could be facing a potentially career defining decision.
But before he makes up his mind just yet, it could be worth looking at how some of Russia’s very best strikers fared in the Premier League.
Andrey Arshavin – Arsenal (2009-12)
One of the undoubted stars of Euro 2008, Arsene Wenger pulled off a major coup in bringing the Russian to the Emirates in early 2009, some 24 hours after the official January transfer deadline elapsed (a snowstorm had delayed his flight).
Given the no.23 shirt previously handed to Sol Campbell, Arshavin made an immediate impact with a four-goal haul in a 4-4 draw against Liverpool, a few games into his tenure, the undoubted highlight.
The next two seasons saw the Russian impress with 22 goals and 24 assists in 91 games for the club, including memorable displays and goals against Celtic, Everton, Liverpool and most notably Barcelona.
But after missing out on the 2010 World Cup with Russia, Arshavin began to cut a disinterested and, at times, alarmingly unfit figure at the club, later admitting that he found Wenger’s rotation policies “psychologically difficult.”
Loaned back to Zenit for the 2011-12 season in a bid to earn a place in Dick Advocaat’s Russia squad for Euro 2012, another disappointing year for club and country saw him return to England to see out the final year of his contract.
Now playing for Kuban Krasnodar in the Russian Premier League after his deal with Zenit ended after last season.
Verdict: An electric first few seasons at the Emirates had some suggesting he could be the club’s new Dennis Bergkamp. But a lack of application in the latter period of his time in north London undid much of the good he had done. Still left the club with plenty of good memories, if not silverware.
Roman Pavlyuchenko – Tottenham Hotspur (2008-12)
Having first caught the eye of English football fans with his match-winning brace for Russia in a 2-1 Euro 2008 qualifying win over the Three Lions, Pavlyuchenko was the main man for Guus Hiddink at the tournament where he three goals in Russia’s march to the semi-finals.
Signed by Tottenham for £13.7 million, Pavyluchenko enjoyed a solid debut season at White Hart Lane, with 14 goals in 36 games part of a solid haul of 42 goals in 113 appearances for the Lilywhites.
A consummate finisher whose aerial presence made him well suited to the demands of the English top-flight, in truth it was the presence of players like Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane, Darren Bent and even Fraiser Campbell that ultimately hindered his progress.
With competition for starting places proving intense to say the least, the Russian was rarely given the chance to establish himself as an automatic starter.
This was despite the fact Pavyluchenko regularly popped up with crucial goals for Spurs including goals against Chelsea and Liverpool in the Premier League and during Tottenham’s memorable Champions League campaign of 2010-11.
A bit part player during his final season, he was sold to Lokotmotiv Moscow just prior to the close of the 2012 January transfer window amid rumours of a bust-up with coach Kevin Bond.
Spurs would go on to struggle without the Russian, as backup as direct replacement Louis Saha went on to disappoint, eventually finishing behind Arsenal in 4th and missing out on the Champions League after Chelsea lifted the trophy.
Super Pav, as he was named by the Tottenham fans, are now, just like Arshavin, playing for Kuban.
Verdict: Arguably Russia’s most consistent footballing export, Pavyluchenko was a consistent force during his time with Spurs and impressed on plenty of occasions. Could have achieve far more at a different club though.
Pavel Pogrebnyak – Fulham (2012) & Reading (2012-15)
Top scorer during Zenit’s successful 2008 Europa League campaign, a knee injury robbed Pogrebnyak of the chance to impress at his absolute peak during the following summer’s European Championship.
A Premier League move always looked likely though and though a January 2009 switch to Blackburn Rovers ultimately collapsed, the Russian finally got his chance three years later, via an underwhelming spell with Stuttgart.
Signed by Fulham on a short-term contract in January 2012, Pogrebnyak made an electric start to life at Craven Cottage, scoring a record five goals in his first three games for the London club, including a perfect hat-trick against Wolves.
Despite impressing with the Cottagers, the Russian failed to agree a long-term deal with the club and moved on to newly promoted Reading the following season a four-year deal.
Pogrebnyak started well enough, scoring against Chelsea and netting a winner in a 3-2 win over West Bromwich Albion but he struggled to maintain that form over the course of the season with Reading ultimately relegated after a campaign in which the Russian bagged just five league goals.
Having developed an appreciation for English life, Pogrebnyak remained with the Royals, scoring 21 goals in 71 games with the Championship side.
Now back in Russia with Dynamo Moscow.
Verdict: Arguably came to the Premier League with his best days behind him, things could have been very different for Pogrebnyak if things had gone his way in terms of injuries and transfers. In the end he was mostly unspectacular.
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Interesting topic, but the author was -as always- needlessly nice towards non-Russian parties, for example calling horrible management of talent a “…lack of application…”. To be honest that is one of the things that bother me the most about Russian’s view of themselves is the inferiority to football countries such as England.
I digress. I think an overall conclusion of the experiences would have made this article more targeted. Mine would be, “Russians should stay as far away from Westren Europe as possible, except Germany where they appreciate talent regardless of nationality.
Zhirkov’s career in England was plagued by injuries, but why no mention of Bilyaletdinov…? :'(
As you see in the title and in the introduction of the article, Jack only looked at strikers, which naturally excluded the likes of Zhirkov of Bilyaletdinov.