Football Season Guide

Rostov

In


Aleksey Kozlov (def) Dinamo Moscow; Dmitri Chistyakov (def) Tambov; Aleksandr Saplinov (att) Baltika; Saeid Ezatolahi (mid) Reading – end of loan; Anton Saletros (mid) AIK Solna – end of loan; Reziuan Mirzov (mid) Arsenal Tula – end of loan; Khoren Bayramyan (mid) Rubin Kazan – end of loan; Vidar Orn Kjartansson (att) Hammarby – end of loan;

Out


Miha Mevlja (r) (def) Zenit – end of loan; Ivan Novoseltsev (sp) (def) Zenit – end of loan; Matija Boben (def) Livorno – loan made permanent; Sergey Parshivlyuk (r) (def) Dinamo Moscow; Ilya Abayev (sp) (gk) released; Timofey Kalachev (sp) (mid) end of career;

Rostov had very busy winter transfer window that pretty much saw coach Karpin acquiring the players he wanted early in 2019, with the summer transfer activity minimal and suggesting that the RSMs will have good synchrony right from the off into the new season. Winter arrivals Eremenko and Popov already proved to be crucial players for Rostov and the forward actions are likely to be orchestrated by them. The main notable departure in the summer was that of right wing-back Parshivlyuk but, in Logashov and the recently signed Kozlov, Rostov have 2 very experienced alternatives for the role. For several years now Rostov’s home record had been very good, but away from home the 3-5-1-1 formation usually looks more like 5-4-1 and only with much more aggressive actions down the flanks on their travels Rostov will be able to remain competitive. Normann has had slow introduction to life in Russia last season, but the talented Swedish inner midfielder impressed in most games he took part and this could be the year in which he establishes as major player for Rostov. In the heart of the defence Wilusz and Sigurdsson are vastly experienced, but all of the backup options are young players and keeping the main pillars at the back fit will be a priority. In attack there are several names that should be doing better than last season, but at least Karpin has options to rotate in search of a striker in form between Ionov, Shomurodov and Sigurdarson.

Target


Rostov eye top 5 finish and, if the away results are good enough, the home form is generally very good, Karpin’s men will definitely be challenging for Europe.