I am grateful to Zenit for giving me the honour of playing for this club and I am grateful to God, to all my new teammates and to everyone who has made my transfer here possible. I want to thank everyone for their hospitality, I have been really well looked after since my first step on Russian soil and everything has been great. I am very optimistic, I believe in myself and I hope to have a great time here and to play well.

Did you think hard over this transfer and who did you seek advice from about coming here?

First of all,  Hulk came to mind, He is my friend and I’ve known him for a long time. The first thing I thought of was asking him as he lived and played in St. Petersburg for a long time. Naturally, I spoke with him and he convinced me that this would be the right decision and that everything would be great.

What else unites you with the Hulk, except that you are from the same state? Have you been friends with him for a long time?

Hulk and I are similar in character with our simplicity, in a good way, charisma, which most people from our state have and the positivity and joy we give to people, I think these are our main similarities.

Did Hulk tell you anything about St. Petersburg? Did you manage to see the city since you arrived?

No, I have not had time to see anything but Hulk told me about St. Petersburg, that it is a very big city with lots of tourism. I could see straight away that it is a real European city, so it will be easy for me to move here and enjoy life.

Zenit are in the Champions League, was this a big factor for you? Are you excited to play in this tournament?

Of course! The Champions League is not the only factor as the Russian Premier League is a high quality league with good players, but when Zenit came in for me I thought right away “this is club would play in the Champions League” and realised that it was a huge chance for me to be part of it. I want to give my all to help Zenit.

What are your plans for the next few days? When will you have the first training session with the team and get to know your teammates?

 I believe that tomorrow I will meet the players and the coaching staff. Then I will get to know everyone personally and I will start training with the first team. I am really looking forward to this and I want to quickly join the team and become part of the champions team.