Reunion Cancelled: CSKA Legend Vágner Love Signs For Kairat

Vágner Love will not return to CSKA Moscow for the fourth time in his career. The striker openly flirted with the club where he celebrated many successes, but everything indicates that the 36-year-old Brazilian is now heading to Kairat Almaty.

Vágner Love, who picked up 25 caps for Brazil through his career, is a free agent since the termination of his contract with Corinthians. Almost immediately stories arose about a possible reunification with CSKA, the club for which Vágner Love played 259 games, scored 124 goals, and won numerous prizes, including the UEFA Cup.

Reportedly, Vágner Love could sign a one-year contract for a salary of 800,000 euros. However, CSKA was unable to register Vágner Love for the remainder of the season due to certain registration rules, and so the transfer collapsed. While other clubs were also interested, including Leonid Slutsky’s Rubin Kazan, Vágner Love seems to be ending his career in Kazakhstan.

Vágner Love has reached a preliminary agreement with Kairat Almaty about a contract until December. It is still unclear when the contract will be signed, also because the Kazakh transfer window is not open yet, but Vágner Love is already delighted with his new challenge.

“I am very happy with my new team”, Vágner Love said on Instagram.

He regrets that a transfer to CSKA has ricocheted, the striker said in an interview with Sport-Express:

“Unfortunately, we could not agree with CSKA about the transfer. And the reason is not money. I am very sorry that I will not be able to return home, to CSKA. But, God knows better. Who knows, maybe I still will have a chance to play for the team.” It would be a dream for Vágner Love to wear the red-blue shirt once more: “And if this happens, I will be more than happy.”

It is unclear when Vágner Love can make his debut for Kairat Almaty. The competition has been stopped due to the coronavirus and there is still no clarity about the resumption of the season. On Friday, the football association, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Sports will discuss this topic.

Author: Gijs Freriks

Gijs Freriks (1993) is a journalist from the Netherlands. He graduated from Windesheim University of Applied Sciences in 2016 and has been a football reporter for several websites, including Goal and Voetbalzone. He wrote many stories about football in Eurasia, such as articles about the Konoplyov football academy, the influence of Gazprom in football,, the Zenit Arena, the Kazakhstan adventure of Arshavin, Dinamo St Petersburg, the football club of Chernobyl, SKA Khabarovsk, Kurban Berdyev, Amkar Perm, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Yaroslav Rakitsky, Dmitry Alenichev, Dynamo Brest, Torpedo Moscow, Anzhi Makhachkala and about the state of football in Crimea and Moldova.