International football unexpectedly faces a second winter mercato. As a result of the war in Ukraine, clubs worldwide have until April 7 to attract foreign players from Russia and Ukraine “for free”. And you can bet that there will be candidates when you look at the player lists.
An unexpected third transfer window
Football is currently not an issue in Ukraine. Foreign players try to flee the country to escape the danger of war. Among them are the many Brazilians from Shakhtar Donetsk and Dinamo Kiev. Some of them were able to reach Romania in great haste by train two weeks ago.
Economic sanctions were imposed against Russia. This creates uncertainty among players, but can also put Russian clubs in financial trouble.
FIFA intervened in order not to deny foreign players and trainers the right to work and at the same time help clubs cope with the new financial realities in Ukraine and Russia.
It decided that foreign footballers and trainers in both countries can sign a contract with another club on a free transfer until June 30, 2022. After that, they must (for the time being) return to their current club.
The consequence for international football is that a third transfer window has suddenly started.
Some European clubs will secretly salivate. It is as if the winter sales fall in March. The players involved become much cheaper. There is no transfer fee to be paid. It is enough to have some room in the salary budget.
Will Zenit look completely different after March 10?
Even though the new rule is intended to protect players and clubs from Ukraine and Russia, the cynical thing is that this scenario could be music to some clubs’ ears.
For example, Barcelona, which has had to be creative in its transfer policy for a whole season. Barça will fight for a ticket to the Champions League in Spain in the coming months and can still win the Europa League.
The first rumors are already emerging in Russia. Zenit’s left back Douglas Santos would be on the radar in Catalonia.
Santos is a regular base player at Zenit. He even wore the captain’s armband in the Champions League against Chelsea. Last summer he won the gold medal with Brazil at the Olympics and was also called up once for the Brazilian national team.
He is one of the many interesting foreigners at Zenit. The crown jewel is Malcom, who was bought from Barcelona in 2019 for 40 million euros. Flamengo and Corinthias would already dream of a temporary free transfer for him. Just like for team and compatriot Wendel, a central midfielder and ex-youth international.
If Claudinho – attacking midfielder who has already scored nine goals, including two in the Champions League – Colombian Wilmar Barrios or experienced central defender Dejan Lovren do not reach an agreement by Thursday, clubs will also sign up for them.
So we won’t know more about the players in the Russian league for two days. Thursday, March 10, is the FIFA deadline to find an agreement between foreign players and Russian clubs. To stay or not? Without an agreement, after March 10, players are automatically free to do as they please until June 30.
The Brazilians of Shakhtar
The scouting reports of the players from Ukraine will also be re-examined. All foreign players are free there until the end of June of this year.
Clubs that have something to put right in the coming months will think twice about taking advantage of this unexpected opportunity. We are thinking of clubs like Everton or Newcastle who cannot afford to drop out of the Premier League.
Or Arsenal, which missed a few transfer targets last winter mercato and is still fighting for a Champions League ticket. Juventus is also in that case. Does Philippe Clement want reinforcements at Monaco to realize the ambitions?
In any case, the player list of Shakhtar Donetsk contains beautiful foreign names: David Neres, Manor Solomon, Tetê, Lassina Traoré, Dodô or the experience of central midfielder Marlon. Their young and promising trainer Roberto De Zerbi (42) is also temporarily available.
The only restriction is that a club cannot contract more than two players from Ukraine and Russia until the end of the season.
The Belgian connection
If Lamkel Zé no longer likes his Russian club Khimki, they may soon have to look for a club for the capricious attacker at Antwerp for the third time this season. And he is not the only player with a Belgian link.
The Brazilian Belgian Wanderson (Krasnodar), Boli Bolingoli (FK Ufa) and Maximiliano Caufriez (Spartak Moscow) are the three Belgians currently playing in Russia. At Spartak, two old acquaintances are also under contract.
Striker Shamar Nicholson left Charleroi just two months ago for a Russian adventure. Samuel Gigot (ex-AA Gent) is loaned by Marseille to Spartak until the end of the season.
His agent told a Russian website that Gigot plans to stay in Moscow until the end of the season, but it seems certain not all foreign players will.
A winter mercato in March: who would have expected that? In times of war, unfortunately, nothing is as it normally is.
Foreign players in Russia and Ukraine
Here you can find an (incomplete) list of the most valuable players in Russia and Ukraine according to their value on Transfermarkt.com.
Russia
- Malcom (Bra – Zenith): 22 million
- Wilmar Barrios (Col – Zenit): 20 million
- Wendel (Bra – Zenith): 19 million
- Douglas Santos (Bra – Zenith): 16 million
- Claudinho (Bra – Zenith): 16 million
- Quincy Promes (Ned – Spartak): 12 million
- Yuri Alberto (Bra – Zenit): 12 million
- Samuel Gigot (Fra – Spartak): 11 million
- Nikola Moro (Kro – Dinamo Moscow): 9 million
- Wanderson (Bra / Bel – Krasnodar): 8 million
- Anders Dreyer (Den – Rubin Kazan): 7 million
- Dejan Lovren (Cro – Zenit): 7 million
- Ukraine
- David Neres (Bra – Shakhtar): 20 million
- Dodô (Bra -Shahtar): 20 million
- Tetê (Bra -Sjachtar): 20 million
- Manor Solomon (Isr – Shakhtar): 18 million
- Pedrinho (Bra – Shakhtar): 17 million
- Marlon (Bra – Shakhtar): 10 million
- Lassina Traoré (Bur – Shakhtar): 9 million
- Vitinho (Bra – Dinamo Kyiv): 5 million
