Zenit U21

11 Apr 2027
Sunday
Process
36 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Boardroom

A new era at Zenit

The sale is done and the money came with it. New owners arrive promising patience; the promise has a shelf life, and everybody in the building knows roughly what it is.

Squad

Luis Chávez damages knee ligaments — 37 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.

Market

Douglas Santos’s move to Djurgarden falls through

The deal that would have taken Douglas Santos to Djurgarden has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Zenit with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.

Market

Nino raises the bar for Zenit

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zenit heard it as anything else.

Squad

Tempers go at Zenit

Maxim Glushenkov 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.

Market

Pedro wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Remember the name: Pedro

He is 21, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.

The dugout

A promise honoured at Zenit

Something was said to Nino and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

The dugout

Maxim Glushenkov has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Zenit 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.

In brief

Back issues
35 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Luis Chávez out for 44 days

44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zenit lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Maxim Glushenkov raises the bar for Zenit

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zenit heard it as anything else.

Squad

Maxim Glushenkov in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Maxim Khokhlov is a better footballer than he was

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.

The dugout

A promise honoured at Zenit

Something was said to Wílmar Barrios and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

The dugout

Wendel has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Zenit 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.

In brief

34 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Douglas Santos attracts admirers

The name of Douglas Santos has come up in conversations Zenit were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

The dugout

Danil Samsonov: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zenit have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

A falling-out at Zenit

Maxim Glushenkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Zenit training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Chávez 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.

Squad

International break empties Zenit

4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.

The dugout

When it matters, Ross Barkley plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Market

The Ivan Toney story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ivan Toney signs something — a contract at Zenit or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Squad

Ivan Toney called up by his country

A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Zenit that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.

Loan watch

Andrey Mostovoy keeps scoring at Lokomotiv Moscow

21 appearances away from home and 3 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

In brief

33 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Douglas Santos hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit can pretend not to have heard.

Match

Nobody above Zenit

First, on 76 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.

Squad

Words exchanged at Zenit

Maxim Glushenkov 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Zenit

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Robert Renan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Nino's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

Loan watch

Alexandr Degtev counts the days

“I watch every Zenit game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sochi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

Squad

Zenit are still strangers to each other

5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

The dugout

Ivan Toney has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Zenit 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.

Market

The Ross Barkley question follows Zenit around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ross Barkley’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

32 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Ivan Toney stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Ivan Toney and Zenit agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Zenit

Maxim Glushenkov 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.

Market

Pedro wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Zenit hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Pedro is the real thing at 21

A season average of 7.02 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Zenit know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.

Loan watch

Bogdan Moskvichev has seen enough of Queens Park Rangers

“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Zenit, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.

Market

Luciano Gondou wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

The dugout

Wílmar Barrios gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Maxim Glushenkov has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Zenit 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.

Market

The Douglas Santos question follows Zenit around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Douglas Santos’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

31 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

32 unbeaten for Zenit

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 32 matches without defeat is a foundation Zenit did not have in the autumn.

Squad

Pedro takes the match ball home

6 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Match

The run at home goes on for Zenit

18 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Match

Zenit march on in the cup

Dinamo Makhachkala are out and Zenit go through, 8‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Player ratings

Both of them Alexandr Rudenko's — 8.33

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.33, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Pedro at 21 — 8.33

The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Pedro did not need any: 8.33, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Felipe Augusto

17 goals and a season average of 7.48 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Player ratings

Maxim Glushenkov beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Boardroom

Zenit close the window on a squad of their own making

4 in and 7 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

In brief

30 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Wílmar Barrios asks to leave Zenit

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

The dugout

Nikita Kokarev keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zenit may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Zenit turn down Akron for Robert Renan

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Nino raises the bar for Zenit

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zenit heard it as anything else.

Squad

A falling-out at Zenit

Ross Barkley and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Zenit training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Robert Renan 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 dugout

Ross Barkley has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Zenit 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.

Squad

Timur Gorshkov signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Timur Gorshkov and Zenit agree another 3 years.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Artem Karpukas

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Zenit told Artem Karpukas something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

In brief

29 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Douglas Santos hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit can pretend not to have heard.

Match

The view from the top for Zenit

76 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Market

As if he never left: Luciano Gondou returns

Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Luciano Gondou is a Zenit player again, and the town has its story of the summer.

Market

Zenit get their man

The chase for Alexandr Rudenko ended with $6.2M changing hands and Lokomotiv Moscow out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.

Transfer targets

Zenit rebuffed over Matheus Alves

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA Moscow have kept their man, and Zenit go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Zenit say no — this time

The offer from Ural for Nüraly Älip was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Squad

Luciano Gondou gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Luciano Gondou has just signed for Zenit, and for once the answer mattered.

Squad

Words exchanged at Zenit

Maxim Glushenkov 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 dugout

Nino is still paying for one afternoon at Zenit

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

In brief

  • Squad 5 new faces, and Zenit are still learning each other
  • The dugout When it matters, Ivan Toney plays
  • Squad No place for Luciano Gondou in the new shape
28 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Whatever happens, Zenit do not lose

31 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Transfer targets

Zenit bid $14.4M for Luciano Gondou

The offer went to CSKA Moscow this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Transfer targets

Zenit rebuffed over Christian

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Krasnodar have kept their man, and Zenit go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Transfer targets

An offer of $6.2M for Alexandr Rudenko

Zenit have gone to Lokomotiv Moscow with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Market

Alexandr Sobolev moves on

Dinamo Moscow pay $9.3M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Market

NK Krka come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Zenit did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Luis Chávez arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Luis Chávez has, at Zenit, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Market

Zenit sign Luis Chávez for $1.3M

The paperwork is done: Luis Chávez joins from Dinamo Moscow in a deal worth $1.3M. Now comes the harder part.

Market

Maxim Glushenkov wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Zenit hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

In brief

27 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Zenit run riot against Orenburg

5‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Match

Nobody wins at Zenit

17 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Market

Zenit turn down Spartak Moscow for Douglas Santos

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

3 goals for Ivan Toney

The match ball belongs to Ivan Toney, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Market

Dmitry Barkov has said yes to Ventspils

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zenit have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Transfer targets

Zenit rebuffed over Luciano Gondou

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA Moscow have kept their man, and Zenit go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Business is business: Igor Diveev goes

Dinamo Moscow paid $7.8M and Zenit took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Player ratings

Pedro, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.29

A mark of 8.29 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.

Match

Zenit make it 5 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Zenit have 5 straight wins of it.

In brief

26 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Zenit run riot against Akron

4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Pedro at 20 — 8.05

The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Pedro did not need any: 8.05, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Squad

Felipe Augusto is carrying Zenit

16 goals and a season average of 7.46. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Match

Zenit make it 4 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Zenit have 4 straight wins of it.

Market

Aalborg come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Zenit did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

A falling-out at Zenit

Maxim Glushenkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Ivan Toney at his very best

Marked 8.95. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Zenit.

Market

Crotone join the queue for Dmitry Barkov

Add another name to the list: Crotone have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dmitry Barkov. The answer from Zenit has not changed — yet.

Player ratings

One of those days for Felipe Augusto

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

25 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Douglas Santos hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit can pretend not to have heard.

Match

Nobody above Zenit

First, on 69 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.

Match

Zenit make home a hard place to visit

16 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.

Player ratings

A brace, and Felipe Augusto takes the afternoon — 8.32

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Felipe Augusto provided it, and the 8.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Zenit turn down Brighton for Felipe Augusto

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Player ratings

Pedro, 20, steals the show — 7.81

Marked 7.81 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Squad

Felipe Augusto is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.43 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Player ratings

Maxim Glushenkov runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Zenit make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Zenit have 3 straight wins of it.

In brief

24 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

27 unbeaten for Zenit

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 27 matches without defeat is a foundation Zenit did not have in the autumn.

Match

Zenit through in the cup

A 1‑0 win over Torpedo Miass, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.

Match

Cruel end for Torpedo Miass as Zenit pounce

There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Zenit scored in the 103th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.

Match

Nobody wins at Zenit

15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Market

Dmitry Barkov says no to Carpi

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Dmitry Barkov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Player ratings

Konstantin Voinkov beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Tempers go at Zenit

Maxim Glushenkov 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 terraces

The crowd has taken to Felipe Augusto

At 22 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.

Market

One of our own: Maksim Vasin joins the Zenit first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Maksim Vasin is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

In brief

23 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Whatever happens, Zenit do not lose

25 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Match

Nobody wins at Zenit

14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Boardroom

There is money circling Zenit

Nothing signed, nothing denied, and a lot of people suddenly very careful about their wording. Supporters who have been through one of these know the quiet part lasts months.

Squad

The season belongs to Ivan Toney

An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Zenit have had the benefit of it.

Squad

Ross Barkley out for 32 days

The medical room confirms 32 days on the sidelines for Ross Barkley, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Market

Zenit say no — this time

The offer from Pro Patria for Dmitry Barkov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Market

Leeds United join the queue for Felipe Augusto

Add another name to the list: Leeds United have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Felipe Augusto. The answer from Zenit has not changed — yet.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Felipe Augusto

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A falling-out at Zenit

Igor Diveev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

In brief

22 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Still nobody has beaten Zenit

The unbeaten run reaches 24. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Match

The run is over for Zenit

22 matches without defeat, and then Rostov. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.

Market

Zenit say no — this time

The offer from Botafogo for Jhon Jhon was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Player ratings

Maxim Glushenkov was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 26. 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.

Market

Nino raises the bar for Zenit

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zenit heard it as anything else.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Felipe Augusto

13 goals and a season average of 7.40 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

A falling-out at Zenit

Maxim Glushenkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Maxim Khokhlov is a better footballer than he was

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.

Squad

Igor Diveev falls out with a teammate over standards

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.

In brief

21 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Zenit cannot stop winning

22 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.

Market

Douglas Santos hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit can pretend not to have heard.

Match

Zenit are top

61 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.

Match

Zenit keep winning on the road

9 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.

Market

Zenit say no — this time

The offer from Grêmio for Douglas Santos was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Market

Maxim Glushenkov wants more than Zenit are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Felipe Augusto in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Zenit find a way past CSKA Moscow

CSKA Moscow made Zenit work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Words at Zenit training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Diveev 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.

In brief

20 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Zenit cannot stop winning

21 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.

Match

Zenit tear Dinamo Makhachkala apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 7‑0 against Dinamo Makhachkala, and it could have been more.

Squad

4 goals for Ross Barkley

The match ball belongs to Ross Barkley, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Player ratings

Ivan Toney scores twice — 9.54

Two goals and a mark of 9.54 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Match

Zenit make home a hard place to visit

13 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Ross Barkley yet — 8.35

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.35 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market

Nino has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Zenit can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Zenit

Maxim Glushenkov 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.

Market

Pedro wants more than Zenit are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

In brief

19 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Zenit cannot stop winning

20 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.

Market

Botafogo come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Zenit did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Player ratings

A brace, and Jhon Jhon takes the afternoon — 8.26

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jhon Jhon provided it, and the 8.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

Zenit are at home on the road

8 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.

Market

Ross Barkley wants more than Zenit are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Market

Zenit may not be able to give Douglas Santos what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Douglas Santos wants continental football; whether Zenit can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Maxim Glushenkov in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Jhon Jhon sends Zenit past Akhmat

It finished 3‑1, and it was Jhon Jhon’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Zenit.

Squad

Igor Diveev falls out with a teammate over standards

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.

In brief

18 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Zenit cannot stop winning

19 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.

Market

Nino puts it in writing

“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 Zenit, and it is not being withdrawn.

Player ratings

Felipe Augusto scores twice — 8.94

Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Match

Zenit strike at the death to beat Sochi

There were 89 minutes on the clock and Sochi had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Zenit did not stop to explain themselves.

Match

The run at home goes on for Zenit

12 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Player ratings

Ivan Toney runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Kirill Kosarev is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zenit is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

A falling-out at Zenit

Maxim Glushenkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Zenit may not be able to give Pedro what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Pedro wants continental football; whether Zenit can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

In brief

17 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Zenit make it 18 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Zenit have 18 straight wins of it.

Match

Zenit march on in the cup

Metallurg are out and Zenit go through, 4‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Market

Douglas Santos hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit can pretend not to have heard.

Match

The view from the top for Zenit

49 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Player ratings

A brace, and Dmitry Barkov takes the afternoon — 8.72

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dmitry Barkov provided it, and the 8.72 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Both of them Vadim Shilov's — 8.53

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.53, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Match

Zenit are at home on the road

7 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.

The terraces

The town believes in Zenit

Position 1, 49 points, and a ticket office that has not been this busy in years. Nobody says the word; everybody is thinking it.

Player ratings

Ross Barkley goes up and wins it — 6.69

A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 6.69 for the rest of it.

In brief

16 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Zenit cannot stop winning

16 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 dugout

Ivan Toney: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zenit have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Tempers go at Zenit

Ross Barkley 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.

Match

The run at home goes on for Zenit

10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Squad

Gustavo Mantuan signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gustavo Mantuan commits to Zenit for another 5 years.

Squad

International break empties Zenit

8 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.

Match

Felipe Augusto sends Zenit past Lokomotiv Moscow

It finished 2‑1, and it was Felipe Augusto’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Zenit.

The terraces

Zenit supporters have found a favourite in Felipe Augusto

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Felipe Augusto 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Zenit

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor Diveev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

15 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Zenit cannot stop winning

15 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.

Market

Wílmar Barrios asks to leave Zenit

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

The dugout

Dmitry Barkov says Zenit went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Match

Zenit keep winning on the road

6 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.

Squad

Nino in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

One of our own: Artyom Radchenko joins the Zenit first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Artyom Radchenko is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Zenit promote Stepan Stolyarov from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Stepan Stolyarov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

Match

Zenit find a way past Rubin

Rubin made Zenit work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Jhon Jhon at his very best

Marked 8.16. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Zenit.

In brief

14 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Nobody wants to play Zenit right now

14 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Market

Nino asks to leave Zenit

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

The dugout

Kevin Andrade says Zenit went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Maxim Glushenkov wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Zenit hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Market

Kirill Kosarev is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zenit is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Match

Nobody wins at Zenit

9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Squad

Alexandr Sobolev in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Maxim Glushenkov the difference as Zenit beat Baltika

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Maxim Glushenkov. 2‑0 against Baltika, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

The month belongs to Felipe Augusto

The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Zenit have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.

In brief

  • Player ratings The afternoon belonged to Felipe Augusto
  • Squad A place in the month's best eleven for Ross Barkley
  • The dugout Wendel gets picked when it counts
13 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Zenit cannot stop winning

13 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.

Market

Douglas Santos asks to leave Zenit

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Match

Nobody above Zenit

First, on 37 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.

The dugout

Kirill Kosarev keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zenit may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Words exchanged at Zenit

Maxim Glushenkov 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.

Player ratings

Ivan Toney runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Nobody wins at Zenit

8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Match

Zenit get the job done against Krasnodar

A 1‑0 win over Krasnodar, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad

A row about effort at Zenit

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor Diveev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

  • Player ratings Both jobs done by Jhon Jhon — 6.92
  • Player ratings Maxim Glushenkov takes the honours
  • Squad 12 new faces, and Zenit are still learning each other
12 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Zenit cannot stop winning

12 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.

Player ratings

A brace, and Ross Barkley takes the afternoon — 8.24

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ross Barkley provided it, and the 8.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

Zenit are at home on the road

5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.

Squad

Real improvement from Nikita Kokarev at Zenit

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nikita Kokarev is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Tempers go at Zenit

Maxim Glushenkov 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.

Match

Zenit find a way past Orenburg

Orenburg made Zenit work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Gustavo Mantuan

Marked 8.34 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Looking ahead

Zenit and Krasnodar meet at the summit

The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.

The dugout

Ivan Toney gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ivan Toney is on it.

In brief

  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • Player ratings Nobody could get near Jhon Jhon
  • Squad Ross Barkley finally opens his account
11 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Zenit cannot stop winning

11 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.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Dmitry Barkov

20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zenit lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Zenit run riot against Akron

3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Market

Wílmar Barrios puts it in writing

“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 Zenit, and it is not being withdrawn.

Player ratings

Felipe Augusto was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 30. 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.

Squad

A day Artem Karpukas will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Squad

Maxim Glushenkov in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Zenit keep winning on the road

4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.

Squad

8 Zenit players away with their countries

The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 8 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.

In brief

10 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Zenit make it 10 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Zenit have 10 straight wins of it.

Match

Zenit tear Nizhniy Novgorod apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 7‑2 against Nizhniy Novgorod, and it could have been more.

Squad

Dmitry Barkov damages knee ligaments — 28 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.

Match

Maxim Khokhlov sends Zenit through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Maxim Khokhlov obliged against Torpedo Vladimir. 3‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Zenit.

Market

Nino asks to leave Zenit

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Player ratings

Both of them Ivan Toney's — 9.69

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.69, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Maxim Khokhlov scores twice — 8.88

Two goals and a mark of 8.88 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

3 goals for Felipe Augusto

The match ball belongs to Felipe Augusto, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Player ratings

A brace, and Maxim Glushenkov takes the afternoon — 8.19

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Maxim Glushenkov provided it, and the 8.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

In brief

9 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

The knee: Dmitry Barkov out for 38 days

38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zenit lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

Zenit make it 8 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Zenit have 8 straight wins of it.

Market

Douglas Santos hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit can pretend not to have heard.

Match

Zenit are top

25 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.

Player ratings

Pedro runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Words exchanged at Zenit

Nino 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Maxim Khokhlov at Zenit

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Maxim Khokhlov is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Market

Zenit may not be able to give Pedro what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Pedro wants continental football; whether Zenit can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Match

Zenit get the job done against Krylya Sovetov

A 1‑0 win over Krylya Sovetov, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

In brief

  • Player ratings One of those days for Jhon Jhon
  • Squad Too much change too quickly at Zenit
  • The dugout When it matters, Wendel plays
8 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Derby delight as Zenit down Spartak Moscow

Bragging rights belong to Zenit for another year after a 1‑0 win over Spartak Moscow in front of a full house.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Dmitry Barkov

46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zenit lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Nobody wants to play Zenit right now

7 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Pedro

Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Maxim Glushenkov wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Zenit hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Player ratings

The derby has a name on it: Ivan Toney

Score against anybody else and it is a goal. Score against them and it is a story with your name in it for a decade, and Zenit supporters have already started telling it.

Squad

Tempers go at Zenit

Nino 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.

Match

Zenit keep winning on the road

3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.

The dugout

Ivan Toney gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ivan Toney is on it.

In brief

7 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Dmitry Barkov damages knee ligaments — 54 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.

Match

Zenit tear Rostov apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑1 against Rostov, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

Both of them Alexandr Sobolev's — 8.88

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.88, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Match

Nobody wants to play Zenit right now

6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Market

The Dinamo Moscow deal is off

Everything was agreed until it was not, and Igor Diveev reports back to Zenit with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 12 in, 1 out at Zenit

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 12 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Transfer targets

Krylya Sovetov tell Zenit: Kirill Pechenin is not for sale

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.

Market

Nino wants more than Zenit are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Zenit and Rostov in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

In brief

6 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Jhon Jhon runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Zenit make it 5 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Zenit have 5 straight wins of it.

Player ratings

A defender's goal wins it for Zenit — 7.93

1 for Artem Karpukas, marked 7.93, 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.

Market

Ross Barkley raises the bar for Zenit

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zenit heard it as anything else.

Market

Kirill Kosarev is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zenit is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

A falling-out at Zenit

Maxim Glushenkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Artem Karpukas the difference as Zenit beat CSKA Moscow

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Artem Karpukas. 2‑1 against CSKA Moscow, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Román Vega

At 22 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.

Squad

A quiet fortnight at Zenit

With 7 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.

In brief

  • Player ratings A masterclass from Alexandr Sobolev
  • The dugout The manager makes an example of Igor Diveev
  • Boardroom The Zenit board find $14.0M for the manager
5 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Pedro at 20 — 7.69

The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Pedro did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Market

Zenit sign Nikita Kokarev for $2.1M

The paperwork is done: Nikita Kokarev joins from Krylya Sovetov in a deal worth $2.1M. Now comes the harder part.

Match

Zenit make it 4 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Zenit have 4 straight wins of it.

Squad

Nikita Kokarev gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nikita Kokarev has just signed for Zenit, and for once the answer mattered.

Transfer targets

Zenit rebuffed over Nikita Kokarev

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Krylya Sovetov have kept their man, and Zenit go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Words exchanged at Zenit

Maxim Glushenkov 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.

Match

Zenit get the job done against Dinamo Makhachkala

A 2‑0 win over Dinamo Makhachkala, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Market

Alexandr Degtev attracts admirers

The name of Alexandr Degtev has come up in conversations Zenit were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Felipe Augusto

Marked 8.26 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

In brief

4 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Pedro leads the rout of Akhmat

4‑1, and Pedro took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Zenit tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Market

Luiz Henrique moves on

Bournemouth pay $26.4M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Market

Zenit turn down AEK for Wílmar Barrios

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Pedro at 20 — 8.23

The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Pedro did not need any: 8.23, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Market

Partizan join the queue for Douglas Santos

Add another name to the list: Partizan have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Douglas Santos. The answer from Zenit has not changed — yet.

Transfer targets

An offer of $2.1M for Nikita Kokarev

Zenit have gone to Krylya Sovetov with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Transfer targets

Dinamo Moscow tell Zenit: Luis Chávez is not for sale

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.

Match

Zenit make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Zenit have 3 straight wins of it.

Squad

Tempers go at Zenit

Ivan Toney 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.

In brief

  • Player ratings Ivan Toney scored one and made one — 7.88
  • Squad Words at Zenit training over how hard people work
  • Player ratings One of those days for Felipe Augusto
3 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Denis Terentjev

88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zenit lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Zenit pay Al-Ahli $14.6M for a proper upgrade

Al-Ahli did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $14.6M for Ivan Toney, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.

Squad

Ivan Toney gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ivan Toney has just signed for Zenit, and for once the answer mattered.

Transfer targets

Zenit rebuffed over Konstantin Tyukavin

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Moscow have kept their man, and Zenit go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Zenit walk away from Henrique Carmo

$5.1M was the most the club would pay and CSKA Moscow were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Market

Mlada Boleslav come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Zenit did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Boardroom

Kirill Kosarev has agreed to leave Zenit for nothing

He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.

Player ratings

Maxim Glushenkov runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Ivan Toney in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zenit this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

2 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Ivan Toney

Zenit and Al-Ahli have settled on $14.6M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Zenit walk away from Finn Dahmen

$29.5M was the most the club would pay and FC Augsburg were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Market

Zenit turn down CSKA Moscow for Douglas Santos

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Player ratings

A brace, and Luiz Henrique takes the afternoon — 8.40

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luiz Henrique provided it, and the 8.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Transfer targets

Zenit make their move for Henrique Carmo

$5.1M on the table at CSKA Moscow. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Market

Kirill Kosarev is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zenit is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Ross Barkley arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ross Barkley has, at Zenit, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Transfer targets

Dinamo Moscow tell Zenit: Yaroslav Gladyshev is not for sale

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.

Market

Nino wants more than Zenit are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

In brief

1 Edition

The Zenit Gazette

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Denis Terentjev out for 104 days

104 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zenit lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Transfer targets

Zenit bid $22.6M for Finn Dahmen

The offer went to FC Augsburg this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Market

Zenit say no — this time

The offer from CSKA Moscow for Nino was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Player ratings

Dmitry Barkov scores twice — 8.72

Two goals and a mark of 8.72 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Konstantin Voinkov, 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.

Market

Douglas Santos wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Zenit hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Douglas Santos signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Douglas Santos commits to Zenit for another 2 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Zenit

Nino and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Zenit may not be able to give Pedro what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Pedro wants continental football; whether Zenit can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

In brief