Football market at the end of the season

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MOSCOW. (Sports commentator Alexander Gorbunov for RIA Novosti) - On October 17, the Russian football team defeated England in a qualifying match for the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship.

This victory has prompted talk amongst European football experts and agents of winter-time transfers involving Russian players.

Yet it appears unlikely that the major European football clubs will sign any Russian players this winter. Few Russians are skilled enough to play for the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter, Milan, Juventus, Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Lyons and Bavaria.

Moreover, leading Russian players are paid handsomely at home, and could not hope to match these wages abroad. This is a complete reversal of the situation in the 1990s, when Russians were quite eager to play for any foreign club. Nor are their respective clubs and agents in any mood to let them go.

In 2006, Zenit St. Petersburg halfback Andrei Arshavin was named the best Russian football player of the year. Despite this, Arshavin said he had not received any serious offers from European clubs, and that they were unlikely to pay him any more than he already made. He could, however, hope for a better salary from Spartak Moscow, which had been eyeing Arshavin for some time. In the end, Zenit's managers agreed to extend his contract and offered to pay him $12 million over the next four years.

Last winter, Zenit spent nearly 40 million euros on new players.

Arshavin is worth $10-$15 million on the Russian market - much more than in the West. The value of Russian players increased dramatically after the introduction of quotas on hiring foreigners. Prices skyrocketed during debates on whether seven or eight foreigners could be included in the first line-up. In the same way stock markets rise and fall in response to unconfirmed rumors. Consequently, players in Russia began to cost $4.5-$5 million.

Zenit, for one, received such a sum after selling Vladimir Bystrov to Spartak; and Lokomotiv Moscow paid the same amount for Spartak's Alexander Samedov.

But foreign clubs would have spent three times less on both players.

Russian players, primarily members of the national side, are becoming more expensive. Spartak's Dmitry Torbinsky, who was trained at the club school, and whose contract expires December 15, earns about $10,000 a month. Nonetheless Torbinsky did not flinch while playing with the much higher-paid first line-up.

Spartak tried to persuade Torbinsky and his agent to sign an unprofitable contract. However, Lokomotiv stepped in with an offer of $100,000 a month - an offer Torbinsky could not refuse. As his current contract is already expiring, Lokomotiv will receive him virtually free of charge.

Arshavin, the best Russian player at the end of last season, already seems to have lost a little of his sparkle. He could lose his title to forward Roman Pavlyuchenko, 25, from Spartak, the best striker of the national championship, who scored two goals against England on October 17.

Other stars to watch include Zenit halfback Konstantin Zyryanov, 30, the discovery of the current season after his transfer from Torpedo, and the undisputed leader of both Zenit and the national team; and the CSKA halfback Yury Zhirkov, 24. After CSKA won the Russian Cup in 2005, Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea, visited the CSKA locker room to congratulate president Yevgeny Giner and his team and told Zhirkov to learn English.

I personally have no doubt that they will continue to play for their respective clubs next year.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

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