Season Preview: Rubin Kazan

By Rubin Kazan’s standards, it’s been a relatively quiet summer. The last 3 summers has seen them change managers, but this year, that has not been the case. There’s not been any wild transfer rumours, nor any crazy moves in or out. In fact the craziest thing to happen in the city was the World Cup. After a number of poor seasons on the trot culminating in last season’s 10th place finish, Rubin fans and the club’s management are desperate for their fortunes to improve.

Having relied on loan players Ivelin Popov and Christian Noboa to get them through the second half of last season, Rubin have had to be smart in the market to add quality to the squad. Old timers Sergey Ryzhikov and Oleg Kuzmin left the club, while Gokdeniz Karadeniz retired. They then made a bit of money on Rifat Zhemaletdinov, who was sold to former club Lokomotiv. In came centre halves Filip Uremovic and Chico Flores (formerly of Swansea),

Dmitriy Poloz and Alexandr Bukharov, a former deadly duo at Rostov, will be leading the line for the club this season having signed from Zenit (loan) and as a free agent. If you were a betting type, you could use one promo from 1xBet to go for a risky Bukharov Rubin top scorer this season, it would be his second time after doing it in 2009.

The Manager

Kurban Berdyev. Those two words in Russian football are enough to trigger a lot of memories. In his 2nd spell at the club, he was brought in last summer with the expectation that Rubin would be competing for the top again. However with the club’s financial issues, he struggled to put a squad together that could adapt to his defensive tactical setup.

Following this summer, Rubin now have 9 players who played under Berdyev at Rostov when he took them to the Champions League. Berdyev’s quiet disposition has changed a lot over the years, and he seems more open on the touchline. Despite his struggles with Rubin so far, there’s no doubt he still has the managerial ability to transform Rubin into a top half team.

Greatest Strength

Rubin will be relying on the togetherness of the squad, and the familiarity they have with each other from their time at Rostov. There is a great core of experience in the team ranging from Dzhanaev in goal, Cesar Navas in defence and Bukharov up front. All three were at Rostov with Berdyev, and padded around them are Kudryashov, Granat, Bayramyan, Mogilevets, Poloz and Azmoun from who also came from Rostov.

Rubin were desperate to add experience to their back line this summer, and in particular were targeting another Spanish centre half. Chico Flores comes with Premier League and La Liga experience, and the hope will be that he and Navas, partnered with either youngsters Egor Sorokin or Filip Uremovic, will form a deadly relationship to sure up the defence.

Greatest Weakness

Along with the experience in the squad, there are key areas of the field which lack in experience and will be relying on talented youngsters. Should Dzhanaev in goal get injured, there are only inexperienced goalkeepers as reserve. The aforementioned Sorokin has had a huge curve of improvement over the last 6 months, but still at top level has limited experience.

In midfield, 22 year old Igor Konovalov will be a central figure this season. He has looked hugely impressive since joining from Kuban Krasnodar in the winter transfer window, but at top level, again, his experiences are limited.

Iran youth international Reza Shekari is also set to get thrown in to his first season of senior football. Having made his debut towards the end of last season, the versatile 20 year old has featured in midfield, at wing back and up front in pre-season, and will be relied upon as a general back up.

Key Player

This may well be his last ever season, but 38 year old Cesar Navas is still as vital to Rubin as he has ever been. Now in his 9th season in Russia, his ongoing presence as one of the league’s most reliable defenders means he will be an ever-present in the Rubin defence next season.

With Chico Flores likely to be one side of him, and either Filip Uremovic or Egor Sorokin to the other, his ageing legs will be covered by experience and youth, allowing him to dictate the game at his pace and hopefully make Rubin’s defence rock solid.

Young Starlet

A tough one, with Egor Sorokin looking so promising, but Igor Konovalov in midfield really looks like he has a huge future ahead of him. At 22 years old, he’s a bit of a late arrival to Premier League football, but has a season and a half of football behind him at former club Kuban Krasnodar. His former coach Evgeniy Kaleshin once spend some time at Sampdoria observing training under Marco Giampaolo. Giampaolo asked him if Kuban had any young players who could be useful to him in the future. He suggested Konovalov, just 20 at the time.

After joining Rubin in February, he made 7 league appearances, starting all bar one game. Over pre-season he has featured in every game and has looked very assured, scoring a stunning winner against Maccabi Petach Tikva.

Season Predictions

Rubin will have a tough season, there’s no doubt about it. The squad is small and lacking in any star quality, or certainly a creator at this point. There’s still a chance that Sardar Azmoun will be sold, they are certainly hoping to make that happen and to cash in, which may help add reinforcements. In any case, Israeli midfielder Dia Saba is thought to be close to joining and was top scorer in his country last season, which is promising.