Mancini, who was not bought by Smolov, did not come to a meeting with Zenit fans

The president of the Zenit football club Sergei Fursenko, at a meeting with fans, spoke about the future of the head coach of the Italian Roberto Mancini, and also affected the topic of the financial capabilities of the richest team in Russia.

“I recall the times when a lawyer came to Zenit, who had serious problems in a year. But, as a strong man, he solved and overcame difficulties. I believe that our coach will overcome the crisis. And if he does not overcome, why do we need a weak coach?

Mancini has a three -year contract. He is the current Zenit coach. "There are no rumors. I don’t want to assume anything. We are working according to a specific plan,” Fursenko quotes the Championship .

Fursenko also told about the broken transfer of Fedor Smolov.

“Mancini really wanted Smolov. But it didn’t work out to get him, since the money received for Hulk and Witsel ended. And Smolov was very expensive. The conditions that we put up were unacceptable - asked for 40 million euros. This is a transfer, salary, and agent deductions. I don’t want to say that he is not worth it. But we couldn’t pay so much for the football player,” the functionary concluded.

Mancini, who headed Zenit in the summer of 2017 , did not come to meet with fans. Under the guidance of the Italian, Zenit, who spent more on transfers before the start of the season than all Russian teams combined , after 22 matches ranks fifth in the championship of the country, lagging behind the leading Lokomotiv by ten points.