Zenit St Petersburg wanted to sign West Ham’s Nikola Vlasic, Leicester City’s Caglar Soyuncu and Newcastle United’s Miguel Almiron before they all moved to the Premier League, the club’s chief scout tells Sport Express.
The dominant force in Russian football these days, Zenit have won the RPL title in each of the last three seasons and six times since 2010.
But how many more trophies would have come their way if the 2008 UEFA Cup champions had got their mitts on a trio of players all currently plying their trade in England?
It is well documented that Vlasic had one foot in St Petersburg before negotiations broke down last summer, allowing West Ham to swoop in and complete a £20 million deal for a man named the 2020 RPL Player of the Year at CSKA Moscow.
“The most logical option was to include Vlasic on our list. Because this is a quality footballer who stood out in the RPL,” Konstantin Shipulin explains.
“Another thing is that we had other candidates. And we still need to understand whether this is the best option. Yes, Vlasic plays at a top RPL club, but maybe we find someone better?
“When it comes to an expensive football player, you need to buy him because he is the best, and not for the reason that he is from the RPL.
“It was easy to assume that it would be extremely difficult (to sign Vlasic). Why would CSKA sell a player to a rival?”
What might’ve been?
Shipulin, a man who plays a major role in recruitment at the Gazprom Arena, admits that deals for Soyuncu and Almiron were also abandoned before the Turkey and Paraguay internationals ended up at Leicester and Newcastle respectively.
“For various reasons, including non-football, the transfer (for Soyuncu) had to be abandoned,” Zenit’s chief scout adds.
“Miguel Almiron could have gone to Zenit. A lot of work was done on it. But, for some reason, it did not pass.
“We considered Hakim Ziyech for the number ten position when he was at FC Twente. And I saw a whole group of players live at the 2017 South American Youth Championship in Ecuador.
“Including (Everton’s) Richarlison, (Aston Villa’s) Douglas Luiz and (Inter Milan’s) Lautaro Martinez.”
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
