Speaking to the Russian news agency TASS, Zenit’s General Director Maksim Mitrofanov admits the club turned down €16m bid from Stoke City for midfielder Axel Witsel.
Stoke later went onto sign Giannelli Imbula for a club record fee of £18.3m.
Witsel joined from Benfica in 2012 and has been ever-present in the Zenit side since his arrival. Football Leaks leaked Witsel’s transfer details back in February, and they revealed that Zenit sent €40m to Portugal in exchange for the Belgian midfielder. However, other than Witsel, Zenit also secured exclusive options to buy the two Benfica players Nicolas Gaitan and Nelson Oliveira, although these were never used.
Despite retaining Witsel during the winter window, Maxim Mitrofanov admitted that Witsel is looking to move away in the summer.
After this season, Witsel will only have one year left of his contract with Zenit, and the Russians could be forced to sell him if they want to get a bit of their investment back.
“There was an offer from the Stoke City. They offered about €15-16 million. No other proposals took place,” said Mitrofanov. “[Our] colleagues probably think we may ‘fail’ in summer. Witsel’s agents are dreaming of selling him somewhere but we will be happy if he continues playing in our team.”
If Witsel in fact ends up leaving Zenit after this season, his transfer price is interesting. According to the documents leaked by Football Leaks, Zenit will have to give Benfica 10 % of the difference between the transfer compensation and €50m if Witsel is sold for between €50m and €60m. If he is sold for more than €60, Benfica is to be paid €1m plus 50 % of the difference between the actual transfer compensation and €60m.
Though he has become a fan favourite, Witsel’s success in Russia has fallen low of expectations.
The arrival of him and Hulk was meant to see Zenit dominate Russia domestically whilst progressing into the latter stages of the Champions League - neither of these have happened.
Though many Zenit fans will be dreading the day he leaves, it will shift a lot of money off Zenit’s already enormous wage bill.
Meanwhile, Zenit are set to pass Financial Fair Play this term. The Blue-Whites previously failed it, resulting in a €12m fine. But their dealings in previous windows mean the club are set to avoid a fine this season.
“The transfer balance is of interest for the UEFA in the first instance,” Mitrofanov said. “We did not make any major purchases in terms of prices and at the same time successfully sold [Salomon] Rondon [to West Bromwich] for 18 mln euro. We bought him [from Rubin football club] at the old euro rate and sold at the new rate. The difference in rubles was extraordinary because of that.”
Mitrofanov recently told Sport-Express that he was fighting for UEFA to change the Financial Fair Play regulations because of the competition from the Chinese league.
Regarding Zenit’s latest additions to the squad the General Director explained:
“As far as acquisitions are concerned, following transfers of [Ezequiel] Garay and Javi Garcia, which were fairly beneficial for us, the [other] deals were nearly free of charge for us, particularly if comparing to the price of average deals on the transfer market.
“In particular, this concerns three players joining our starting XI last winter - Yuri Zhirkov, Aleksandr Kokorin and Mauricio.”
The fact that Zenit have left the Financial Fair Play problems behind for now is good news, as the club will need to find a new head coach, and with him most likely some new players as well, after this season.
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