From Paris Saint-Germain to Juventus, Girona to Leeds United, there has hardly been a league Eduard Spertsyan has not attracted interest from across Europe in recent times.
By his own admission, Spertsyan’s agent held talks in France with Paris Saint-Germain. Italian giants Juventus made their interest known too, while Girona also saw him as a player capable of enhancing a team who qualified for the Champions League for the first time ever last season.
Spertsyan opened the door to a Daniel Farke reunion at Leeds, as well, the £10 million-rated Krasnodar captain having worked with the German briefly in 2022 and understandably intrigued by the chance to strut his stuff on the Premier League stage.
Presuming Leeds can secure promotion back to the big time, of course.
“Why not?,” Spertsyan told Russian publication Championat earlier this month when asked about a potential move to Leeds United. “They will most likely get into the Premier League. They are in first place [in the Championship].”
But Igor Shalimov, the former Krasnodar coach, sees things differently. He has an idea for an alternative destination.
One that, while lacking the glamour of the Premier League, or the viewing figures of Serie A and La Liga, could actually be the best suited to continuing Eduard Spertsyan’s development.
Eduard Spertsyan urged to emulate Ronaldo rather than join Leeds United
“He doesn’t need to go to England, Italy or Germany. I don’t see him in Italy or England at all,” Shalimov tells Match TV. “The Netherlands.
“Remember where Romario and Ronaldo started their European journeys?”
Long before they became household names across the football-loving globe, Brazilian legends Ronaldo and Romario were banging in the goals at PSV Eindhoven.
Romario scored a stunning 98 goals in 110 league matches before earning himself a move to Barcelona. Ronaldo too would end up at the Camp Nou, on the back of two prolific campaigns in the red and white stripes of PSV.
Flash forward to the modern era, and countless players have ascended to the pinnacle of European football after formative spells at PSV, Ajax or Feyenoord. See Cody Gakpo, Frenkie de Jong, Lisandro Martinez, Jurrien Timber and Luis Suarez, to name but a few.
Spertsyan, Shalimov argues, would benefit from leaping onto the stable stepping stone that is Dutch football. He believes this would give the 24-year-old Armenia international the chance to hone his talents away from the media spotlight while also playing his way onto the radar of clubs in more well-heeled, high-pressure competitions.
Spertsyan would bring Jude Bellingham-style box-crashing to Leeds
Interestingly, Spertsyan did confirm that Ajax came calling for him in a recent transfer window. Whether the team sitting top of the Eredivisie table are still interested, however, remains to be seen.
Eduard Spertsyan opened up on his admiration for Andres Iniesta and Jude Bellingham this week. A creatively-minded footballer with an eye for goal – he hit double figures in each of the last two campaigns – the influence of both players is clear to see.
“I followed Iniesta a lot,” says the two-time Russian Premier League Midfielder of the Year. “He’s my favourite player. And that Barcelona where Iniesta, Xavi and [Sergio] Busquets played, that’s what I followed the most.
“Now, there is Bellingham, [Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian] Wirtz… a lot of talent.”
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