Carnival tactics

As the Petersburg Zenit, in the conditions of Russia's expulsion from European football, turned into a team of Brazilians: there are ten of them there are already there

“He understood that“ Zenit ”(St. Petersburg) turns into“ Zenit ”(Rio de Janeiro) or (San Paulo),” so Artyom Dziuba described the main pain at sunset of his career in the Petersburg club. For five years, under the coach Sergei Semak Zenit, he signed 12 players from Brazil, spent € 125 million on them and won all five championships of Russia. After the start of the war, the transfers to the input and exit did not stop, on the contrary - it was in these two seasons that 7 of the 12 Brazilian players found themselves in the club. And last week the most expensive transfer was held to enter the history of Russian football - he left for Saudi Arabia for € 60 million. Why does the club that sponsor Gazprom and which, apparently, will not get into European competitions, so many Brazilians?

Zenit at the dawn of Gazprom: the balance between European legionnaires and Russians

Zenit, after the arrival of Gazprom in 2005, was transformed from the Pretendente team into medals, where they play mainly “their own”, in the most ambitious Russian football project with huge transfers at that time.

Three years after the purchase of Gazprom, Zenit won the UEFA Cup - the second most important European football tournament after the Champions League. In the finale, only four legionnaires (all are Europeans) came to the field, and the goals made “their own” - Petersburg Igor Denisov and Andrei Arshavin, who made PAS to Perm Konstantin Zyryanov.

During this period, the team balanced between the expensive transfers of foreigners and the contribution of Russians and St. Petersburg: in particular, Kerzhakov, Arshavin, Denisov were the key players of the blue-white-blue.

Zenit in the first half of the 2010s: dominance of European legionnaires

Before the arrival of Semak in 2018, the main direction for St. Petersburg remained the European market. In 2013, Zenit bought a Brazilian Hulk for € 40 million-this is a club record at that time. But even with him the team became only three Latin American at eight Europeans.

In 2015, at the best Zenit draw in the Champions League, when the team won five victories in six matches of the group stage and entered the playoffs, there were six Europeans and only two Brazilians (and Latin American). It was the Europeans at that time determined the game of the team, and the Portuguese Miguel Danny was a long -term captain.

Zenit in the late 2010s-early 2020s: Brazilian U-turn

The proportion of legionnaires began to change with the advent of Sergei Semak in 2019. Already in 2020, Douglas Santos and Malcom came to the club, for them the St. Petersburg gave about € 56 million. Following for two years, Zenit lowered € 57 million on Vendel, Claudino and Yuri Alberto. Such fabulous expenses were a specific goal by the standards of Russian football - Zenit dreamed of success in Europe.

In 2015, the former General Director of Zenit Maxim Mitrofanov made a statement that Zenit's goal was to win the Champions League. Further, however, he made a reservation that “objectively speaking, to do it is very difficult” and that the next goal is a regular hit on the quarterfinals of the tournament.

Zenit did not get to the quarterfinals of the LCh, but he launched a domination in Russia - the last five years of St. Petersburg are out of competition in the championship of the country. The fulfillment of such a minimum task was satisfied with the leadership, so until the 2022th the club signed new and new newcomers for tens of millions of euros every summer to bring success in Europe.

"Zenith" after the start of a full-scale war: Brazilian All-in

By the beginning of 2022, there were already four Brazilians at Zenit, but it was still only half of all the club legionnaires. They developed good chemistry among themselves, players spent a lot of time with each other and outside the field, in the media they were even called the “gang”, which Sergei Semak did radically.

Everything was supposed to change in February-March of 2022: after the start of the war, FIFA was allowed to unilaterally suspend contracts, and Zenit, like all Russian clubs, was left without European competitions and clear reasons to pay more than € 3 million to individual legionnaires every year for the next victory in the Russian championship.

But Zenit not only did not allow the outcome of the best players: he extended contracts with them and even issued Russian passports to the leaders - Malkom and Claudino. While competitors lost several important players (CSKA, Spartak), and some almost the entire main composition (Krasnodar, Rubin, Rostov), ​​Zenit escaped with a slight fright - only Ukrainian Yaroslav Rakitsky left the club during the season.

Most of all, clubs were injured in the RPL, in which there were many Europeans - a transfer policy with a U -turn from Europe to South America very much helped out Zenit in this turbulent situation.

Therefore, in the summer of 2022, the club did not come up with anything better than doubled a bet on the Brazilians. For two years, Zenit signed six more players from this country, now they are enough for a whole main team without a goalkeeper.

In such a situation, Sergey Semak could only state: “Today, such a situation is that players from European championships and countries are quite difficult to invite; Plus - the level of football and salaries in European championships does not allow you to invite high -quality players from Europe. ”

Of course, the main reason for the complexity of inviting Europeans is not in finances - until recently I received at least € 3.5 million at Zenit. For comparison: the salary of Khvichi Kvratshelia in the Italian Napoli after his recognition as the best player in the Italian championship is € 2.5 million.

Opinions about whether new expenses on Brazilian legionnaires are justified against the backdrop of a ban in European competitions were divided: the former Zenit coach Anatoly Byshovets believes that players from Brazil were put on a bench of the Russian national team and impede the development of players from the academy. Andrei Arshavin disagrees with the classical rhetoric of import substitution: according to his assessment , if the Brazilians are removed from Zenit, the team “may not be gained by the game composition”.

What is the phenomenon of the high loyalty of South Americans? Firstly, they are much less likely to press their own football authorities-compared to Europeans. Secondly, the well-established national community within the club may affect the decision. But the main part of the answer is very simple. Two months ago, after another victory in the Russian championship, he showed Malcom with one gesture to the president of the club. And this gesture meant: we are waiting for the money. A lot of money.