Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Druzhba they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Druzhba, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Druzhba will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tamerlan Khachirov signs something — a contract at Druzhba or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
Words at Druzhba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tamerlan Khachirov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Druzhba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Druzhba know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Timofey Kashitsyn has written the date down.
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Druzhba would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
The words a physio says slowly. 35 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
1 for Kirill Yushko, marked 7.55, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Alexandr Dmitryuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Yaroslav Afanasyev left the room before anybody could ask which.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Druzhba told Patryk Klimek something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Druzhba, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tamirlan Khakhov is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A 1‑0 win over Dinamo Makhachkala 2, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Zaid Koblev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Druzhba the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Druzhba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tamerlan Khachirov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Makar Iljushenok and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Druzhba has been clear about where Dmitry Shirkovskiy stands, which is more than many ever get.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Dmitryuk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
In brief
The terracesThe stands have heard the Dominik Pikulik talk too
SquadThe training reports on Zaid Koblev are not good
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Dominik Pikulik did not need any: 7.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Alexandr Dmitryuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Dominik Pikulik has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Druzhba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timofey Kashitsyn was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Zaid Koblev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Druzhba the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Dominik Pikulik, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.60
A mark of 7.60 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Alexandr Dmitryuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Druzhba can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Volgar is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Krasnodar is saying, and nobody at Druzhba is enjoying the guessing.
Tamerlan Khachirov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Krasnodar have kept their man, and Druzhba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timofey Kashitsyn was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Druzhba can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Dominik Pikulik, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timofey Kashitsyn was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Dmitryuk, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Dominik Pikulik is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Druzhba will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Druzhba is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Druzhba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Alexandr Dmitryuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA Moscow have kept their man, and Druzhba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Alexandr Dmitryuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Druzhba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timofey Kashitsyn is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Druzhba will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Yaroslav Afanasyev after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Druzhba, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Druzhba will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.28 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Sochi 2 were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Druzhba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dominik Pikulik. 3‑1 against Sochi 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Zaid Koblev has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Yaroslav Afanasyev on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Druzhba will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Zaid Koblev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Druzhba the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Druzhba will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Zaid Koblev has agreed terms with Mashuk for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Alexandr Dmitryuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Druzhba will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Tamerlan Khachirov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Druzhba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timofey Kashitsyn is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Position 14, 21 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Druzhba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Druzhba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timofey Kashitsyn is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.26 on the card, and the Druzhba support went home talking about one name.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Yaroslav Afanasyev was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Druzhba dressing room was either.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
0‑5 against Dinamo Stavropol, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Alexandr Dmitryuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑5 defeat, delivered by Yaroslav Afanasyev to a room that had heard them before.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Beaten 5 times, with 1 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timofey Kashitsyn was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
This is not rotation. Platon Sotnikov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Druzhba is pretending otherwise.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Yaroslav Afanasyev to a room that had heard them before.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Timofey Kashitsyn trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kirill Yushko signs something — a contract at Druzhba or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Druzhba will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Druzhba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Soslan Cherdzhiev scored, was marked 7.85, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Druzhba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Soslan Cherdzhiev has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Zaid Koblev, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.01
A mark of 8.01 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timofey Kashitsyn was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Druzhba, another week without a signature from Alexandr Dmitryuk.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Łukasz Piontek did not need any: 7.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tamerlan Khachirov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Timofey Kashitsyn, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Yaroslav Afanasyev, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Successful dribbles: 11. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Alexandr Dmitryuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timofey Kashitsyn was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Soslan Cherdzhiev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Druzhba needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Druzhba, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Łukasz Piontek, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.66
A mark of 7.66 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Łukasz Piontek has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 6.77 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Tamerlan Khachirov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Druzhba asked and Khimik said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Druzhba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timofey Kashitsyn is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Soslan Cherdzhiev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Druzhba, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chase for Makar Iljushenok ended with $15.0K changing hands and Sibir out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Druzhba asked and Kuban Holding said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timofey Kashitsyn was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Legion go through and Druzhba go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Druzhba, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Druzhba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Druzhba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tamerlan Khachirov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Eddi Tsanava is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Zaid Koblev, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.99
A mark of 7.99 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
$32.0K on the table at Khimik. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vasily Gribov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dmitri Zhirinovsky is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.