Forward of the Iranian national team and St. Petersburg “Zenith” Serdar [Azmun] Azmoun has become the protagonist of the transfer news after reports of his imminent transfer to Leverkusen “Bayer”. MK-Sport understands why everything is not easy with this transfer, and Azmun suddenly found himself in a situation where he is not needed by the old or new clubs.
The top scorer of the RPL season 2019/20 Serdar Azmun was in an unenviable position. After a trip to a neighboring hotel from a training camp in the UAE to sign a contract with Bayer, which was not coordinated with the club, some strange undercover game unfolded around his person, unworthy of such a cool football player who played one of the key roles in three Zenit championship titles.
You can understand why the club management was offended by the player. Not only did he still refuse to renew the contract, which the team was counting on (otherwise, why didn’t they sell him six months ago, when it was quite possible to get ten million euros for his transfer?), He also confused all the cards, depriving him of the opportunity to arrange auction between potential buyers. Before the news from Leverkusen, Zenit was in a strong position in the negotiations, but now it is in a weak position, and there is only one partner – the “aspirin”.
Azmun’s motivation is also understandable. He was tired of uncertainty and wanted to decide on the future as soon as possible, and at the same time not to miss a great option, which a couple of months later might not have been. He’s not the only one on the Bayer shortlist.
Revenge of “Zenith”: they did not let go to the national team, they threaten with a double
But the coming months will almost certainly turn into football hell for him, with serious consequences. In Russia, the St. Petersburg club began to put a spoke in the wheel, missing an excellent opportunity to beautifully part with a far from ordinary player. At first, the blue-white-blue did not let Azmun into the Iranian national team.
“The presence of Azmoun is very important for the national team and for the federation. Unfortunately, despite the efforts made by the federation and the national team, Zenit did not cooperate with us properly, which looks strange and requires investigation. We have sent an appeal to FIFA and we want the investigation to be carried out as soon as possible ,” said the director of public relations of the Iranian Football Federation, Hossein Sharifi.
Moreover, before that, the Tasnim news agency announced a positive test for the forward for coronavirus, passed at the location of the national team, which could not be in principle, because he did not reach the national team. It could be assumed that this is an invention of journalists, but the head coach of the Iranian national team, Dragan Skosic , soon said that it was the club that provided such information to the FFI: “ First, he told us that the test result was positive, then it turned out that it was negative. In such cases, you need to be guided by the rules of the Asian Football Confederation, but it is clear that we were left without a player .
Perhaps the attacker really has health problems. In any case, Match TV reported that Bayer, where the Iranian passed a medical examination before signing the contract, forbade him to train for two weeks. However, the club ignores this topic and rests on the date of the call: “ The call to the national team for Serdar Azmun came later than the deadlines set by FIFA, in such cases the decision remains with the club. Due to his functional condition, Azmoun missed most of the first training camp, not gaining proper physical shape – he is a Zenit player, and the coaching staff made a decision in the interests of the team .
The motivational part of the message about the interests of the team is noteworthy here, since earlier there were hints that the club would not only fine Azmun (although 50 thousand euros with a salary of 250 thousand a month is nonsense), but also send him to the reserve until the end of the season. As punishment. This version was confirmed by the striker himself on the air of his instagram, complaining to Artem Dziuba that he was forced to leave the chat of the first team:
“I didn’t do anything wrong. They said – I deleted this chat. I wrote today, yesterday I wrote… I don’t know what they want. I have never done anything wrong. But still, no problem. I love you, Artemchik. You are always here in my heart, brother. For another three months I will die for Zenit, no problem. I’ll go with the second team, the first. They want me to go with the second team, I’ll go, Lord .” Dziuba reacted with words of support: ” I know it’s a lie .”
However, even if the forecast for a double does not come true, nothing good awaits the player in Russia. Zenit has already practically resolved the issue of the transition of the 20-year-old Internacional striker Yuri Alberto , which means that Azmun becomes only the fourth striker after Artem Dziuba, Ivan Sergeyev and the Brazilian newcomer. Not because it is inferior to them in the class, but because it is still a cut piece. Considering that Sergei Semak plays one striker, who is supported from the depths of Malcolm and Claudinho , in St. Petersburg you can no longer count on playing time. In the first team, that’s right.
Now at Bayern, Azmun will not get out from under Schick and Alario
At the same time, the transfer window in Germany closes on January 31. According to Kicker, the Blue-White-Blues are ready to meet the Iranian halfway and release him ahead of schedule for a small amount, but for this, first, everything must be finally decided on by Alberto. Including Friday, there are three days for this.
The only trouble is that moving to the Bundesliga right now for Azmun is not a gift of fate at all. He played the last match on December 3rd, and arrived in Dubai only on January 17th, that is, the player did not go out on the green lawn at all for a month and a half. Journalist Ivan Karpov reports that Serdar brought with him two or three kilograms of excess weight. Then he trained at full strength, passed a positive test and was suspended from training, but even if everything went like clockwork, it would still be worth considering that he would be far from passing a full-fledged training camp.
Meanwhile, Bayer’s players are in excellent physical shape. The main striker of the team, Patrick Schick, scores every 75 minutes (17 goals in 18 matches) and is the uncontested first number in attack. If necessary, he can be backed up by Lucas Alario (not very productive, but gave an assist last week in the game against Augsburg) and nominal winger Amin Adly , a strong rotation player who almost never misses games, who has played five games in the center of attack this season.
It will be unrealistic for Azmun to win the competition right away, especially since he will not be allowed to train at all for the next two weeks. This means that a month and a half will definitely be spent on a set of physical conditions, but without playing practice they mean nothing. And in the yard it will be already mid-March, it’s time for decisive matches in the fight for a place in the Champions League. So, at best, the Iranian will get a few minutes in the endings several times, which will not differ much from Alexander Kokorin in Fiorentina. And then the season ends.
Six months without football hit hard on the psyche and confidence of any football player, and Azmoun is no exception. Especially against the backdrop of such powerful competitors. So by the summer he will come crawling, first of all, morally weakened. And it is far from a fact that he will be able to return to his level at the summer training camp.
Yes, and Bayer, having parted with the top scorer Shik (several giants are already chasing him), will probably not dare to bet on him after such an acquaintance with Azmun and will invest the proceeds from the sale of the Czech into someone promising, who had a solid playing practice in the spring . And it is far from a fact that Azmun will be able to win the competition from the newcomer.
Hope only for sale with subsequent lease, but no one talks about it
In general, moving from Russia to Europe in the winter transfer window is far from the best idea because of the apparent synchronism of the calendar. A player leaves the RPL almost immediately after a vacation and often in the middle of a training camp, and there are practically no pauses in the top 5 leading leagues.
Therefore, it is one thing when you are a player of the Argentine national team Leandro Paredes , for whom PSG pays 40 million, and quite another when you are a player of the level of Kokorin or Fedor Smolov (it is typical that both are also attackers).
The ex-Spartak player in Florence, after moving last spring, spent only 91 minutes on the field, and the newly minted Dynamo player, although he received enough time in Celta, scored only two goals in 748 minutes. For comparison, after the arrival of the Russian Iago Aspas scored seven goals. Having looked at Fedor closely, in Vigo they decided not to redeem him.
How would Azmun not spoil the impression of himself at the first meeting, which in fact may turn out to be the last. After all, nothing prevents Bayer from sending him on loan to some Augsburg, and then try to get out of there.
The only working option that could suit everyone is a sale to Leverkusen, followed by a loan until the end of the season to a mid-range team, preferably in the Bundesliga. Let’s say Cologne or Mainz. Here the competition is lower, which means that there is an opportunity to enter the field more often and adapt to the new championship. Zenit will earn some money, Azmun will get game practice, and Bayer will get a player ready for the new season. But it seems that no one is considering such an option, and there is almost no time left to coordinate two deals in a row.
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