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COMMENTS ON TRANSFER OF DINIYAR BILYALETDINOV
Head coach and president of Lokomotiv Yuriy Semin
and Nikolay Naumov, and Sport Express correspondent John Davies commented
on the transfer of Diniyar Bilyaletdinov to English Everton.
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Diniyar Bilyaletdinov Photo
SPORT EXPRESS
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Yuriy Semin, head coach of Lokomotiv: For me the loss of
Bilyaletdinov for Lokomtiv is more human than game-concerning. It is such
a pity to part with him, I can even say that I have cousinly affection
for him: he was always here and the team will lack him.
I remember him in our football school, and how he came to his first training
session with masters, and how we preserved him from military conscription.
I have not realized it till the end that he is leaving. Everything happened
very quickly: I found out about the offer of Everton on 23 August and
on 24th the contract was already signed. But that the destiny of all coaches.
I was not against his move, on the contrary I think he did it correctly.
It was a desire of a professional to play in the best European League
and I understand him.
Bilyaletdinov is 24, the age of a mature footballer and he receives an
offer that is very difficult to reject. If you try to always raise your
level the English Premier is the best option approve oneself.
For a player it is a new serious challenge, stimulus for further progress.
I think that a certain recession in the game of Diniyar happened because
in Lokomotiv he had no real competitors. This move to Everton will give
him a boost for development.
Nikolay Naumov, President of Lokomotiv: The negotiations lasted for a
long time. The English wanted to purchase Bilyaletdinov for a year and
a half.
But last year we did not let him ago because the club needed him. And
we promised then that when there is a good offer we will let you go. And
this year we could say no to him.
This person did so much for the club, played here for so many years. But
now he wanted to play in England and we agreed. Moreover the proposal
of Everton was good in financial terms.
This contract was unexpected for people but not for us. Because we prepared
this agreement for a long time and very carefully. We just did not want
to show it off in advance.
The negotiations were going on hard. We asked for a huge sum of money
[?9 million]. And Everton sought for a compromise. The Englishmen could
not pay the whole sum and asked for installments so in general it was
rather long and difficult.
John Davies, Sport Express correspondent: Long since recognized on the
international front as a power in the making, Russian footballers have
quickly become highly sought-after commodities in club arena.
In fast succession Roman Pavlyuchenko and Andrey Arshavin were snapped
up by Tottenham and Arsenal of the English Premier League respectively
and this earlier this summer Yuriy Zhirkov made his way to Chelsea with
Pavel Pogrebnyak heading to German Bundesliga powerhouse VfB Stuttgart.
On the heels of those moves, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov has departed Lokomotiv
Moskva for Everton, with a fee rumoured to be in the ?9-10m fee.
In signing a five year contract with the Merseyside club, the twenty-four
year-old midfielder will now be a part of manager David Moyes' carefully
crafted lineup that blends key acquisitions and a storied youth development
program that puts out some of the finest talent in the region.
Following the recent sale of Joleon Lescott to Manchester City, for a
stunning price of ?24m, the "Toffees" are expected to mount
a late charge at the transfer window with Valencia midfielder Ever Banega
expected to arrive on-loan and a number of other rumoured targets.
The question now for Everton is juggling a midfield lineup that includes
Tim Cahill, Phil Neville and Belgian international Marouane Fellaini as
well as fast emerging young talents Jack Rodwell and Dan Gosling.
Sport
Express Daily, 26 Aug 2009
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