TOUGH CHOICES FOR YURIY SEMIN’S LOKOMOTIV

After a trying start to the campaign that saw their pre-season hopes languish with mid-table play, Lokomotiv Moscow were hopeful of re-tooling their anaemic attack with the acquisition of a premier striker during the summer transfer season.


The Railwayman had been hopeful of attracting Roman Pavlyuchenko from Tottenham, the Russian international's late season in-form and personal wishes to say in England saw that chance evaporate.

Manager Yuriy Semin has been anxious to upgrade his under-performing attacking unit with Dramane Traoré and Peter Odemwingie on the sales block. Hopes that Peter Odemwingie would raise his value with a quality performance for Nigeria in the World Cup quickly dissipated with sub-standard play and the once lofty fee in the €10 million range was undercut by England Premier League side Birmingham City with an offer of €2 million, to which club president Nikolay Naumov appropriately rejected.

While former Dynamo Kyiv man Oleksandr Aliyev has been an attacking revelation for the Railwayman, the lack for production at striker, the need to play Dmitri Sychev out of position and the extended absence of Wágner due to injury, has created a storm of problems for the Lokomotiv mastermind Yuriy Semin. Furthermore, as the Railwayman ready for the second half of the campaign, there is considerable concern that Renat Yanbaev could be on his way to London powerhouse Arsenal. Such a loss, akin to the departure of Diniyar Bilyaletdinov to Everton last year, could put a significant roadblock in their efforts to climb up the table.

With the Nigerian international’s stock dipping so low, Lokomotiv are a precarious position of trying to recoup their expected sales, attracting a more experienced striker such as Alexandr Kerzhakov, seemingly on his way out at Zenit Saint Petersburg or look for new man Maicon to play a greater role. Though Lokomotiv possesses a fine stable of young strikers that will play a role in the horizon, including Alexandr Minchenkov, Georgiy Nurov, Dmitry Poloz and sixteen year-old Soslan Dzhioyev, each will require significant time curing and unlikely to be a factor in the second half.

Lokomotiv Moscow returns to play on 10 July as they visit Anzhi Makhachkala.