Rostov
Manager: Kurban Berdeyev (Dec 2014)
Last Season: RFPL - 2nd; Cup - 5th round
RFN 2016-17 Prediction: Top Half
Major Transfers In: Sardar Azmoun (CF - undisclosed - Rubin)
Major Transfers Out: Guélor Kanga (CM - free - Red Star Belgrade), Byung-Soo Yoo (CF - released), Timofey Margasov (DR - released), Pavel Mogilevets (CM - loan expired - Zenit)
Controversy rather than pure glory has surrounded Rostov’s debut in the Champions League after last season’s top goalscorer Sardar Azmoun came off the bench against Anderlecht despite Rubin having claimed he had not signed a legitimate contract with the southerners. While media in his home country of Iran have reported that he has finally signed permanently for Rostov, TASS news agency reports that FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport will determine whether the 21-year-old is in breach of contract. Berdeyev’s future was also under intense speculation with Spartak rumoured to have wanted him, but for now he remains and has almost the exact same squad from last season.
They said… “You know that one of the contracts is always recorded at the Premier League. The contract with Rubin which lies with us is until 2017, that is to say it is valid. Therefore when Rostov applied for the registration of Azmoun, we refused on the basis of documents that we have.” - RFPL President Sergey Pryadkin on Friday 29 July suggest that the Azmoun saga is far from over.
Rubin Kazan
Manager: Javi Gracia (Jul 2016)
Last Season: RFPL - 10th; Cup - 5th round; Europa League - 3rd in group stage
RFN 2016-17 Prediction: 5th
Major Transfers In: Rubén Rochina (AM/CF - €10m - Granada), Maxime Lestienne (LW - €10m - Al-Arabi), Samu Garcia (RW - €5m - Villareal), Moritz Bauer (RB - €4 - Grasshoppers), Carlos Zambrano (CB - €3.5m - Eintracht Frankfurt), Alex Song (CM - free - Barcelona), Sergio Sánchez (CB - free - Panathinaikos), Rifat Zhemaletdinov (RW - €150k - Lokomotiv)
Major Transfers Out: Mauricio Lemos (CB - €2m - Las Palmas), Mubarak Wakaso (CM - free - Panathinaikos), Sergey Kislyak (CM - free - Gaziantepspor), Marko Livaja (CF - free - Las Palmas)
Rubin’s revolution has blown through Kazan at a dizzying pace, with half of the Premier League’s entire transfer expenditure down to them. Ex-Málaga boss Javi Gracia is reportedly on a four-year contract worth around €10m, and given the powerful spending already completed he will have little excuse if he doesn’t deliver at least European qualification. Quite how the club will balance the books to avoid getting pinged by FFP restrictions remains to be seen, but for now they are most definitely a force to be reckoned with.
They said… “From communicating with Alex, I realised that he is a very westernised guy who does everything conscientiously and is not influenced by agents.” - Rubin General Director Ilgiz Fakhriev has full faith in former Barcelona midfielder Alex Song.
Spartak Moscow
Manager: Dmitry Alenichev (Jun 2015)
Last Season: RFPL - 5th (qualified for Europa League); Cup - 6th round
RFN 2016-17 Prediction: 4th
Major Transfers In: Fernando (CM - €12.5m - Sampdoria), Roman Zobnin (CM - €3m - Dinamo Moscow), Andrey Eshchenko (RB - free - Anzhi)
Major Transfers Out: Alexander Zotov (CM - free - Dinamo Moscow), Sergey Bryzgalov (CB - free - Terek), Tino Costa (CM - free - San Lorenzo), Kirill Kombarov (RM - undisclosed - Tom)
Even though the largest individual transfer fee of the summer so far was spent on Brazilian holding midfielder Fernando, arguably the most vital piece of business has been retaining Quincy Promes. With Roman Zobnin also joining the midfield looks extremely well stocked, so if Ze Luis can continue his late season form from the spring, Spartak will be back to being, potentially, a very dangerous side. Alenichev had an inconsistent first season as manager back at the club where he spent six years as a player, but this time round he will have more expectation.
They said… “I cannot say that Spartak has greatly improved. What is missing is at least one attacker and one defender. The squad is good enough to compete, but to say that Spartak will be champion… not yet.” - former Spartak manager Valeriy Karpin isn’t filled with optimism for his former club’s prospects.
Terek Grozny
Manager: Rashid Rakhimov (Nov 2013)
Last Season: RFPL - 7th; Cup - Quarterfinals
RFN 2016-17 Prediction: Top Half
Major Transfers In: Gabriel Torje (RW - €1m - Udinese), Odise Roshi (RW - €500k - HNK Rijeka), Sergey Bryzgalov (CB - free - Spartak), Bekim Balaj (CF - undisclosed - HNK Rijeka)
Major Transfers Out: Maciej Rybus (LB/LW - free - Lyon), Kanu (CM - free - Buriram United), Tedore Grigalashvili (CB - free - Saburtalo), Ismail Aissati (AM - free - Alanyaspor), Juhani Ojala (CB - released), Marcin Komorowski (CB - released)
Terek have managed reasonably well in the transfer market to deal with the loss of Maciej Rybus with the signings of Gabriel Torje and Odise Roshi, and to bring in the young Russian defender Bryzgalov will be useful for fulfilling the restrictions on foreigners. Zaur Sadaev and Reziuan Mirzov will finally be back to match fitness after missing almost all of last season with long term injuries, leaving Rashid Rakhimov with a strong mid-table squad to choose from.
They said… “The club understands that you need to buy a lot of players, that for more than two years the club has made [almost] no acquisitions. We need a minimum of seven or eight new players.” - Terek Manager Rashid Rakhimov in May; six players have left and only four have arrived so far…
Tom Tomsk
Manager: Valeriy Petrovsky (Apr 2016)
Last Season: FNL - 3rd (beat Kuban in promotion playoff); Cup - 4th round
RFN 2016-17 Prediction: Bottom Half
Major Transfers In: Vitaliy Dyakov (CB - loan - Dinamo), Ante Puljic (CB - undisclosed - Gent), Eric Bicfalvi (AM - free - Dinamo Bucharest), Kirill Kombarov (RM - undisclosed - Spartak), Lukas Droppa (CM - free - Pandurii), David Jablonsky (CB - free - Teplice), Anton Konchenkov (GK - loan - Lokomotiv), Sergey Samodin (CF - free - Mordovia)
Major Transfers Out: Martin Jiranek (CB - released), Kirill Pogrebnyak (CF - released), Anzor Sanaia (CF - free - Gazovik), Pavel Nekhajchik (LW - Free - Gazovik), Ivan Temnikov (RB - free - Dinamo), Sergey Bendz (CB - free - Kuban), Evgeniy Bashkirov (CM - free - Krylia), Nikita Bazhenov (CM - released)
One of the busiest sides over the summer with 26 players coming and going, Tom could be the side to watch out for from the promoted sides. They could also implode spectacularly, as they have gutted almost their entire first choice eleven from their promotion winning campaign, so it will be very hard to call exactly how they will start off the season. They have a relatively weak forwards department with only one specialist striker in Mordovia’s three-goal squad player Samodin so may struggle going forward.
They said… “At the moment the captain is no appointed. We will have a general meeting at the training ground where we will resolve this issue. There are three or four candidates from which we will choose together.” - Valeriy Petrakov admits that he completely overhauled squad has no official leader just days before the first match of the season.
Ufa
Manager: Viktor Goncharenko (Jun 2016)
Last Season: RFPL - 12th; Cup - Quarterfinals
RFN 2016-17 Prediction: Relegation Battle
Major Transfers In: Yuriy Zhevnov (GK - free - Ural), Islamnur Abdulavov (CF - free - Anzhi), Ondrej Vanek (CB - undisclosed - Viktoria Plzeň), Viktor Vasin (CB - loan - CSKA), Dmitry Zhivoglyadov (RB - undisclosed - Dinamo)
Major Transfers Out: Oleksandr Zinchenko (AM - €2m - Manchester City), David Yurchenko (GK - free - Anzhi), Ivan Paurevic (CM - undisclosed - Huddersfield Town), Haris Handzic (CF - free - HNK Rijeka), Marvin Pourie (CF - loan expired - Copenhagen)
After a spell as assistant to Leonid Slutskiy at CSKA, where many thought he was being groomed to take over the Army Men if Slutskiy was enticed to take over the national team exclusively, Viktor Goncharenko finds himself at his fourth Russian club in less than two years. His stunning early career with BATE Borisov in his homeland has failed to catch on fully across the border, mostly due to external factors rather than his lack of ability, but he must make do without the most talented teenager in the country after Zinchenko’s eye-catching move to mega rich Manchester City.
They said… “I knew what we were getting. It’s no wonder we like this expert; [he has] human qualities and is professional.” - Ufa General Director Shamil Gazizov highlights a trait that was said to have influenced Viktor Goncharenko’s resignation from previous club Ural in protest over alleged match-fixing. His first fixture? Away to Ural…
Ural
Manager: Vadim Skripchenko (Sep 2015)
Last Season: RFPL - 8th; Cup - 6th round
RFN 2016-17 Prediction: Relegation Battle
Major Transfers In: Roman Pavlyuchenko (CF - free - Kuban), Radovan Pankov (CB - €300m - Vojvodina), Georgi Zhukov (CM - undisclosed - Standard Liège), Jean-Jacques Bougouhi (CF - undisclosed - Torpedo Armarvir), Giorgi Chanturia (RW - free - MSV Duisburg)
Major Transfers Out: Yuriy Zhevnov (GK - free - Tom), Alexander Sapeta (CM - free - Dinamo), Edgar Manucharyan (AM - released), Spartak Gogniev (CF - released), Konstantyn Yaroshenko (AM - released), Alexander Martynovich (CB - loan expired - Krasnodar), Alexander Ryzyantsev (CM - loan expired - Zenit)
Most thought last summer’s move to Kuban was the last roll of the dice for Roman Pavlyuchenko, but Ural have given him an even later chance to end his career with some dignity. To say last season was a disaster for him would be an understatement, but he finds himself at a club with less dramatic histrionics behind the scenes with a youthful supporting cast. Jean-Jacques Bougouhi’s disappointing record of just six goals in 21 games in the second tier - despite an eye-watering fee (by FNL standards) of €250k - should be partly discounted given the team’s abysmal performances. Sapeta will be a huge miss, as will Gerson Acevedo and Manucharyan, but Skripchenko has the support of his largely unglamorous but young squad.
They said… (When asked about Kokorin and Mamaev’s champagne-gate) “I will not comment on it. How can I?” (four second later…) “How much champagne did they order? After Euro 2008 I ordered twice as much.” - Ural’s new 34-year-old striker Roman Pavlyuchenko is clearly keen on celebrating.
Zenit St Petersburg
Manager: Mircea Lucescu (May 2016)
Last Season: RFPL - 3rd (qualified for Europa League); Cup - winners; Champions League - round of 16
RFN 2016-17 Prediction: Champions
Major Transfers In: Giuliano (RW - €7m - Grêmio), Robert Mak (RW - €3.5m - PAOK)
Major Transfers Out: Hulk (RW - €55m - SIPG Shanghai), Vyacheslav Malafeev (GK - retired)
Andre Villas-Boas’ turbulent reign came to an end this summer and in Shakhtar Donetsk boss Mircea Lucescu they have brought in a man almost twice his age who will suffer no fools. The Portuguese always had the air of of a scowling schoolboy complaining about all the ills of the Russian game, so Lucescu’s infamous short temper but vast experience is likely reinvigorate the media’s relationship with Zenit. The relatively unknown Brazilian Giuliano and Slovakia’s Robert Mak are reasonable deals given the unlikely circumstance that an equally blockbuster name as Hulk could be tempted to replace him, and with the return of Alexander Kerzhakov and Pavel Mogilevets from loans, the squad is looking very healthy indeed for another tilt at the title.
They said… “I did not notice [Lucescu joking in training]. I think that Mircea is a light-hearted man, but at the same time strict. In any case, it will be hard to compete with me in terms of jokes!” - First rule of Joke Club, Artyom Dzyuba, is never challenge a new 71-year-old temperamental boss to a banter challenge.
Follow Andrew on Twitter: @AndrewMijFlint
Robert Mak is Slovakian not Polish good sir.