Rubin Kazan’s sporting director can understand why Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was disappointed after missing out on a dream move to the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur or Leeds United, speaking to Sport24.
Even for the most down-to-earth footballers, a summer of speculation can leave quite the hangover. Just ask Harry Kane.
Kvaratskhelia might not have hogged quite so many headlines as the England captain, when he was pining publicly for a big-money move to Manchester City, but Rubin Kazan’s Georgian international certainly enjoyed his fair share of column inches.
Kvaratskhelia himself admitted that he’d held talks regarding a potential move to Leeds United. One that would never come to fruition.
Tottenham then expressed their interest. As did Crystal Palace.
Marcel Brands, meanwhile, confirmed that the former Dinamo Tbilsi starlet had been offered to Everton.
But, by the time the window slammed shut at the end of August, Kvaratskhelia was being forced to come to terms with the fact that a dream move to a club in Europe’s most high-profile league had slipped through his fingers.
Will Khvicha Kvaratskhelia join a Premier League club this summer?
“One (of his suitors) is the top club in the Bundesliga, and two top clubs in the Premier League. If one of them came up with a final offer for Khvicha, we would sell him one hundred percent. But they didn’t,” explains Rubin director Oleg Yarovinsky.
“Khvicha is a super-talented football player who will definitely move to a top European club. I told him (in the summer); ‘If there is an offer, we will let you go.’
“I understand (why he’s upset to miss out on a transfer). When you’ve watched these leagues in your childhood and you think that you have a real opportunity to go there, but no one comes for you, it’s very disappointing.
“They will definitely come back for him. But it’s just that, the moment when (a dream move) doesn’t happen, it hits you hard.”
Kvaratskhelia, a winger with an eye for goal, returned to the gossip columns in December, reports suggesting that Everton and Southampton were showing an interest. Two months on, Kvaratskhelia is still in Russia.
And, unless he can rediscover the form that made him one of Eastern Europe’s most coveted young players last year, he’ll be a Rubin Kazan player in 2023 too.
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