Kokorin has missed his last chance to test himself against the best.

When news of Aleksandr Kokorin’s move to Zenit St. Petersburg broke two days ago there was celebration from the fans of the Russian Premier League holders. Zenit managed to secure arguably Russia’s greatest footballing prospect for the small fee of €2.5m from Dinamo Moscow which also included the fee for his fellow Dinamo player Yuri Zhirkov, quite frankly this is an absolute bargain. With his contract due to expire in a few months, Kokorin had the freedom to pick and choose a club which was willing to meet his high wage demands. It is rumoured that the former Anzhi man will earn around €3.5m a year at Zenit which puts him up with the club’s top earners.

I am torn, for Zenit this is a great signing but for the future of Russian football I cannot help but feel this is a bad move.

Kokorin’s projected earnings at Zenit St. Petersburg – Courtesy of Р-Спорт.

Kokorin had the perfect chance to move abroad and test himself in a better league against superior players to those in the Russian Premier League. However, Kokorin knew that in Russia, due to the 6+5 rule, players with Russian passports are in high demand and command large wages. One cannot blame the 24 year old for wanting a big pay packet and it should be the system blamed rather than the player but this deal does call his ambition into question.

It seems Kokorin has now missed his last chance to move abroad. The Russian international has been involved in four transfers in his career and he seems to have moved sideways rather than upwards with each one. The Anzhi project was always destined to fail so he moved back to the comfort zone of Dinamo
Moscow where he was their highest earner. Now that he is near the top of Zenit’s wage bill, he will probably never move abroad as clubs will not want to gamble on a player who seems less likely to reach his potential by the day. His Russian passport will only add more zeroes onto the fee and thus further prevent Kokorin from testing himself at a better level.

It is common knowledge that Russian players have failed abroad despite glittering starts and perhaps Kokorin wanted to err on the side of caution in this regard. However, if things had not worked out, he would have easily secured himself a great contract back in Russia, just like all his other compatriots.

Kokorin failed to play a single game at Anzhi Makhachkala before moving back to Dinamo Moscow.

Whilst Zenit are undoubtedly an ambitious club, they cannot help the fact that they play mediocre opposition on a weekly basis and it is only in Europe where they play teams of real quality. Whilst Zenit harbour ambitions of becoming a great European club, they are unlikely to break into this top bracket for a number of years. Whilst the 6+5 rule seems a good idea in principle, it arguably stops Russian sides from becoming serious European contenders and Kokorin will suffer from not playing regularly against top quality sides and opponents.

A further question to be asked of Kokorin’s move is how he will fit into Zenit’s system. The front four of Dzyuba, Shatov, Hulk and Danny picks itself at the moment. The reason Zenit are down in 6th place at the halfway stage of the season is not down to the attack but the defence. The Blue, White and Navys are the top goalscorers in the league with 34 goals and there is no reason to change a forward combination which is currently working.

It is probably a fair argument to say that captain Danny would be the most likely to drop out of the team as the 32 year old will probably leave next summer, barring a repeat of last year’s shottck new contract. However, I imagine that this season manager Andre Villas Boas will stick with the loyal Danny and Kokorin will sit on the bench, probably playing only because to the restrictions on foreign players.

We will more likely see him playing regularly next season,  probably on the left hand side with Oleg Shatov moving into the position behind the striker. It is interesting to note that during a discussion about the national team on the latest RFN Podcast, both writers omitted Kokorin from their starting XI. Additionally, he was ranked down in 25th place in our Top 50 Russian Premier League list. Kokorin certainly fits into the bracket of too much expected too early.

Overall this transfer makes perfect sense for Zenit, they have secured the signature of Russia’s prodigy and if he is to reach his potential, it will probably be in St. Petersburg. If the club were to eventually sell him then they would be able to command a large fee, probably a Russian transfer record. Unfortunately for Russia, this parallel move has probably stopped Kokorin becoming a great player.