Athletistic/Football. Georgy Dzhikia’s future at Spartak is in question. It is not yet clear where the defender will continue his career.
Football agent Vadim Shpinev shed light on the situation. He noted that the club had offered to loan the player. According to him, teams from Türkiye and Saudi Arabia were interested in Jikia.
“At the end of last year, we met with the management of Spartak, where we were told that in January Georgy would receive a new contract. Today is February 5 – there is no new contract. In addition, we will no longer receive any proposals for an extension. This became clear in the light of the results of the meeting that took place here, at the Abu Dhabi training camp, in which the new sports director of the club and Oleg Malyshev.
How did Spartak explain the decision not to offer a contract now? First of all, I want to say that Spartak is a big Russian club with many fans all over the country. That’s why I want to make things clear. On the one hand, I am ready to accept the excuses and arguments of the Spartak leadership for not fulfilling its promises. On the other hand, it’s difficult for me to do this, because Georgy is a person, a leader. He has influence on the team, on the Russian core.
The message from the leaders was that they were very grateful to Jikia and understood its importance. In this regard, they were ready to consider all possible options. There was even an offer to rent Dzhikia until the end of the season with his full salary.
Saudi and Turkish clubs were interested in Jikia. There was an option with Lokomotiv, but the club understood that it could not meet the financial requirements, and then acquired Nyamsi. There was an option with Rostov – a six-month lease. But we did not respond to their proposal, then Rostov made transfers and took the position of central defender. But the most important thing is that Jikia himself decided not to leave his native club – this was the key for him.
How does Abaskal explain that he doesn’t see Dzhikia in the lineup? He explains this by physical activity – according to Abascal, Georgy runs a little. But Dzhikia was never a runner, he never ran back and forth. Maybe the years take their toll, but Dzhikia began to play with his head – he is a thoughtful defender. I often hear that you need to run more, but you need to know when and where to run. I believe that in terms of thinking and intelligence, Jikia is head and shoulders above his competitors in position. I don’t want to criticize others, I don’t want to continue the discussion about Duarte and his regular mistakes. I don’t want to talk about the slow Babich, although he is a majestic defender and already a national team player. But this is my subjective point of view, I have the right to it. But I am sure that we will overcome everything. This is the first time we find ourselves in such a situation, but everything will be fine.
For my part, I can say that it is purely unprofessional and amateur. The Spartak leadership is committed to maintaining subordination. There is confidence in Abascal, he makes all the decisions in football matters. Therefore, in this situation, the club management sided not with the player, but with the head coach. In my opinion, when a coach seeks a common language with the players, results improve. Abaskal did not dare to find a common language. He follows his line. This authoritarian approach is perhaps a good thing. But on the other hand, with this approach it is easy to step on a rake. We don’t know how long Guillermo will work here: four months or 10 years. Only god knows. Now we’ve just made things clear. Georgy’s priority is to still be at Spartak. But now we have the right to negotiate and even sign an agreement with any club – the Spartak management knows this. As a player representative, I will do my job: I will express all options to Georgiy and he will make a decision. Everything will be transparent,” Shpinev said.
This season, Jikia participated in nine matches in all tournaments, in which he was not effective.
In total, the 30-year-old defender spent 706 minutes on the pitch. The player’s current employment contract with the club runs until May 31, 2024.
According to Transfermarkt, Jikia’s market value is 5 million euros.
Andrey Andreev, Sport.Ru
Source: Sport
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