What’s next for Spartak’s Movsisyan?

 

2015 has been a tumultuous year for Spartak Moscow’s Armenian striker Yura Movsisyan. In April the 27 year old striker signed a new four year contract, but only a month later him and his Armenian teammate Aras Özbiliz were involved in a controversial episode, where Özbiliz accused the former Spartak coach Murat Yakin of not selecting him and Movsisyan due to the conflict between Armenians and Turks regarding the Armenian Genocide.

Özbiliz later withdrew his accusations, and it is highly unlikely that his and Movsisyan’s nationality had anything to do with their lack of success on Otkritie Arena’s pitch this season. Movsisyan, who scored 16 league goals last season, has been tormented by injuries this season, which is why he only managed to play a full game of 90 minutes once. Overall Movsisyan played 16 matches, and he found the back of the net twice. Not the kind of statistic Spartak expect from the best paid player in the squad, which can explain why rumours of a possible departure suddenly have emerged.

When Movsisyan was at his peak of his life last season, he was heavily linked with big clubs like Liverpool and Wolfsburg, but his next destination can be far less glamorous; the American Major League Soccer.

Last month Movsisyan’s agent, Patrick McCabe, was interviewed by the Salt Lake Tribune about his client’s possibilities, and he opened up for a move back to the Land of the Free, where Movsisyan grew up.

“For anybody that knows Yura,” McCabe said, “there’s nothing more important than family. For him I think it’s been difficult to be in Europe for as long as he has for. He and his wife Marianna have two young kids and they’d like to obviously raise them closer to Yura’s family and her family in California. That’s a major consideration I think at this point.”

Yura Movsisyan started his MLS career at Kansas City Wizards for whom he played one season and scored five goals, before moving to Real Salt Lake and later Denmark before eventually ending up in Russia.

Based on McCabe’s statements it seems like Movsisyan can be lost for the Russian Premier League, since he is already working on a move back to America.

“I’m hopeful that a return to MLS can be worked out, but I’m also realistic in that I know that it may not. I have to plan for a bunch of eventualities here, and one of them is that [a move to USA] doesn’t work out. I think if you asked Yura, I think that would be his first choice, but we have had approaches in the past from other MLS teams, so we know that it may or may not happen.”

It is not the first time Movsisyan has been linked with a move back to the MLS. In January McCabe’s company Global Premier Management confirmed Spartak had rejected a bid from an unknown MLS club.

There has been no offer made to @YuraMovsisyan by the @ChicagoFire. Another @MLS team has made an offer and has been rejected. #cf97 #MLS

— Global Premier Mgmt (@GlobalPremMgmt) January 26, 2015

Movsisyan seems like a man who is ready to return to USA if the right offer comes along, but the family man is also aware of that it might be difficult to find a club who is ready to match his current lucrative contract with Spartak. Furthermore it is worth noticing that Movsisyan will get a new head coach at Spartak within the next few weeks, and if he can find his old level he still has the age for a move to a big West European league.

 

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