Second most valuable in the Premier League
After almost three years, Wendel wants to leave the Russian champions Zenit St. Petersburg and apparently resorts to the means of a strike. According to reports, the 25-year-old central midfielder, who is the second most valuable player in the Premier League with a market value of 24 million euros, did not return to his employer after the summer break.
Although Zenit is willing to accommodate the Brazilian with a suitable offer, general director Aleksandr Medvedev and coach Sergey Semak announced this publicly. However, the club only wants to sell the player and hope for a fee of 20 million to 25 million euros. There were rumors about Fenerbahce last week, however, the Süper Lig club were only willing to loan Wendel, which Zenit denies. Now there was speculation about interest from top Brazilian clubs like Flamengo, Palmeiras and Corinthias. But none of these clubs seems willing to pay a transfer fee at market value level either. Instead, one hopes to borrow the right foot or to commit for a much cheaper sum.
A change is made more difficult by the fact that Wendel apparently refuses to fly to St. Petersburg, where Zenit is playing a preparatory tournament against Fenerbahce, Red Star and Neftchi Baku. His advisor has also stopped all contact with the club’s management and cannot be reached, as reported by the media. However, due to his extension a year ago until 2027 and the change in FIFA regulations, Wendel cannot unilaterally suspend his working paper in Russia like other players and is therefore contractually bound. Should he nevertheless sign with another club, Zenit could sue and get the player banned.
Zenit St. Petersburg: Other Brazilians in the squad are watching the situation with suspense
Explosive for St. Petersburg: In addition to Wendel, there are seven other Brazilians in the squad who are watching the situation with interest – including Malcom and Claudinho, the most valuable and third-highest valued professional in the league. They also extended their contracts by five years a year ago, despite the war in Ukraine and the exclusion of Russian clubs from European competitions. As reported by Russian media at the time, Zenit was keen to retain its best professionals and had offered the three of them a whopping salary increase in exchange for all of them signing legally binding clauses not to use FIFA’s rule and suspend their contracts. In addition, Malcom and Claudinho even received the Russian passport at the end of 2022 – thanks to a special decree from the President.
Flamengo have already publicly expressed their interest in Claudinho and want to lure the 26-year-old back home with better prospects for the national team. They are ready to pay 10m to 12m euros for the midfielder’s services.
Malcom, on the other hand, only made his debut for Brazil in June. The right winger has recently been linked with Juventus and PSG. Should Wendel successfully walk away, there’s a good chance some of Zenit’s stars will do the same. One beneficiary of events could be Russia international Daler Kuzyaev, whose contract with Zenit has expired. According to consistent media reports, which Transfermarkt can confirm, he is in advanced negotiations with Besiktas. But Zenit now wants to keep him and have offered a new contract to compensate for a possible failure of Wendel.
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