We start the year with a Gazprom Training Camp, what are the team's plans for the next month?
The plan is the same as it has been in previous years, to be ready for the start of the league season and our games in Europe. The first priority of the training camp is getting the players into the best physical shape as possible, we’re planning on playing in a tournament also, so in Portugal we will focus on training.
In the final match of last year against Dynamo both Malcolm and Wendel were injured. How are they now? What training regime are they on?
Wendel will train individually for the time being and we’re keeping an eye on Malcom to see how he is. We will then decide to see how he will train and if he is ready to train with the team. The same goes with Azmoun, who is also experiencing some problems, he will also train on an individual programme.
You’ve three friendlies planned against Emirates, Botev and Zilina. Are you happy with the opposition?
Of course, we know that when we come to training in the UAE that there are other clubs also training here and we do our best to play as many games as we need and against opponents who will compete against us. I think that for the start of the training process they are good opponents, at the second training camp we will also have some good friendlies. Things are much better than this time last year.
Zenit have signed Ivan Sergeev this transfer window, are you pleased with this signing? What are Ivan’s strong points?
I’m very pleased. Ivan is a skillful player with Russian citizenship. The finances also played an important part in this transfer and the price was reasonable compared with Russian forwards. Overall this is a very big plus for us and I really hope that Ivan will be able to assist the team. We have a lot of matches coming up and we need players for rotation and competition. Everything is up to him so let's see he does at the training camp and if he can earn a place in the starting lineup.
Kazakhstani defender Nuraly Alip has joined you on trial, how did this move happen?
You all know the situation with defenders with Russian citizenship, this makes it quite difficult to build a team and a lot of clubs are looking at players who don’t count as foreigners in our league. We’ve been watching Nuraly and now we have the chance to take a closer look at him at this training camp. If he fits with us then we know how to move things on from there with this player. We have options open to us and I hope that he will strengthen our squad and we will have another defender who can bring competition at the back.
If we have this competition with Alip joining us this means we’ll be able to send young players such as Danila Khotulev out on loan to get match practice.
So will the decision on Nuraly be made based on his performances here?
I think we will have enough time to make a decision at this first training camp, but if there are any issues we also have the following training camp to use. As far Kairat, the player and us are concerned one training camp should be enough though.
Artem Dzyuba did not take play in the final match of the year with Dynamo. Is he Ok? Is he fully training?
Yes, he's fine. He is in full training.
