It seemed like he never left at all. Last year Aleksandr Kokorin had been in jail for 133 days and did not play an official match since October 7, 2018. The court paroled the Zenit striker on September 17, 2019, and he joined the Zenit squad soon after. Recently, on January 21, he played his first (unofficial) football match in ages. Kokorin stood out immediately, scoring three goals and delivering one assist.
While wearing the captain’s armband, the 28-year old Belgorod-born scored in the sixth, ninth and 36th minute in the friendly match against Qatar’s Al Uwaynah in Doha. The next match at the training camp will take place on Saturday 25 January against Red Bull Salzburg. However, it’s unlikely Kokorin will take part in that game too.
On the same day Kokorin scored his hat-trick, bottom side PFC Sochi announced they’ll lease Kokorin for the rest of the season. “The clubs agreed on everything. Kokorin will join our team in the near future”, general director Dmitry Rubashko said.
Zenit’s Alexander Medvedev confirmed the agreement with Sochi as well, but it turned out that the player himself doesn’t want to travel south at all and head coach Sergei Semak doesn’t want to see Kokorin leave either.
“I talked to him. He was upset by today’s news. I haven’t changed my mind. He is a player who can strengthen our team, we need him. Today, and at every training session, Kokorin proves his high level”, Semak said after the Al Uwaynah game.
As to Kokorin’s future, Semak said: “I don’t make the decisions about his future, unfortunately. It’s still difficult to say how the situation will develop.”
The Sochi announcement came as a huge surprise. Kokorin was released on September 17 with Zenit CEO Medvedev emphasising, the same day, that Kokorin will stay at the club. “We’re not going to rent out our leading players.”
Sports Director Javier Ribalta was also very pleased with the return of the former striker of Dynamo Moscow, Anzhi Makhachkala and the Russian team (48 caps). The Spaniard defined the comebacks of Kokorin and the injury-plagued Malcom as ‘two big winter transfers’. Coach Semak was pleased too: “He was and is a great player. Kokorin is one of the best football players in Russia.”
Several clubs expressed interest to Zenit to get Kokorin on loan, including Dutch side Feyenoord Rotterdam. “He is a very big boy in terms of football and salary. But Kokorin doesn’t play in Zenit, and they know me there, so maybe they would think: let him work with Advocaat for five months”, manager Dick Advocaat told RTV Rijnmond. However, Medvedev immediately ruled out the departure of Kokorin.
More puzzling, Medvedev and the rest of the Zenit board agreed with Sochi in less than two weeks later. How did that happen?
The main reason seems to be purely economical. By sending Kokorin to Sochi, Zenit can save costs on salary and bonuses. Furthermore, the Kokorin deal can be seen as a favour. Medvedev and his associates are able to help their close friend Boris Rotenberg, the billionaire who’s not only an ally of Vladimir Putin but who’s also having very good ties with the Gazprom and Kremlin-linked board of Zenit.
The clubs have strong connections. Sochi arose out of Dinamo St. Petersburg, is being sponsored by Gazprombank (which has a long-standing partnership with Zenit) and the son of Boris Rotenberg is on the board of Gazprombank, which is headed by Alexey Miller, the main man at Zenit.
Eight (former) players from Zenit currently playing at Sochi: Elmir Nabiullin, Christian Noboa, Dmitri Poloz, Ibragim Tsallagov, Ivan Novoseltsev, Andrey Mostovoy, Anton Zabolotny and Miha Mevjla.
Meanwhile, a lot of Zenit fans are heavily protesting the imminent move from Kokorin to Sochi. On social networks, the hashtag #BringKokorinBack went viral.
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