11-09-2020, 00:13
(10-09-2020, 21:06)WBA-Josh Wrote: The Russian Premier League is a funny one. It's on par with the Portuguese league as a whole but once you've taken Zenit, CSKA Moscow, Spartak Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow, Krasnodar, Dynamo Moscow and Rostov out of the equation, the quality then becomes more mid-table Championship and below level. There is Rubin Kazan and Akhmat Grozny who are decent (Rubin Kazan was the best team in Russia 11-12 years ago) but no better than Blues, Reading etc.
I quite like the idea of Ivanovic. I have also looked into his time in Russia and as normal Josh is right. He has captained the champions and mainly played as a centre half. He is big and good in the air and whilst he will be slower than he was, it may work well with Ajayi who is very mobile. We are very inexperienced at the back, except for Gibbs. So a big plus for his experience. He is a leader and we could do with one, we were all saying we need more on the pitch last year. He is in on a free, so just his wages, likely to only be for a year, which will be cheaper than a transfer fee for bringing in a moderate premier league player or a decent championship player. I think it makes sense, if Bilic can convince him to come to us. If it happens I think we will then sell hegazi and put the money towards getting grant through the door. Dowling seems to be revelling in doing deals, so I think there may be quite some wheeling and dealing to be done yet. Hold tight.