Like Russia of football talents: our players in Armenia – Eduard Spertsyan, Khoren Bayramyan, David Yurchenko and others
Talents from Russia go to Armenia. Who are we losing, except for Spertsyan?
There will soon be a dozen of our former players in the Armenian team.
In winter, we wrote that Lokomotiv defender Nair Tiknizyan received an offer for the Armenian national team. Change the 22-year-old railwayman football citizenship, his loss would be unpleasant for Russia. Still, we are talking mainly about the youth left-back at Euro 2021, who will definitely be a candidate for the country’s main team, since a difficult situation has developed with the inhabitants of this role (especially with generalists) in our football. So far, Tiknizyan does not want to change anything. Nevertheless, the absence of Russian footballers from the Armenian national team seems to be decreasing.
Russia is losing another talent? Lokomotiv defender is named in the Armenian national team
On the eve it became known that in the near future two Russian football players will go over to the side of the Armenian army – midfielders Alexander Kovalenko from Krylia Sovetov and Artur Galoyan from Veles. Moreover, the latter has already met with the Spanish national team coach Joaquin Caparros. In an interview with American journalists, Galoyan, who was born in Moscow, admitted that he had arrived in Armenia and did not yet have a very good command of the population.
Both players are not recognized in our country, so that now someone would regret their choice. 18-year-old Kovalenko has just moved from Chertanovo to Krylya Sovetov and has played only six matches in the RPL. 22-year-old Galoyan is generally public in the FNL: he scored 15 + 8 in the “goal + pass” system this season. However, in the case of Alexander and Artur, we are losing promising players. Kovalenko (by the way, the great champion of the USSR in 1973 as part of Ararat Alexander Kovalenko) played for the youth teams of Russia, and Galoyan spent the summer training camp with CSKA. The midfielder liked the top RPL club, but in the end the signing of the contract fell through. In the winter window, information appeared about interest in Artur Lokomotiv and one of the leaders of the Belgian championship.
Not every young footballer reveals himself quickly, however, perhaps in a couple of years, Kovalenko and Galoyan will correspond to the level of the Russian team. Suffice it to recall the example of Eduard Spertsyan, who was not invited to our youth team, but in just a season he grew into the leader of Krasnodar. We have already missed him: since March 2021, the midfielder has been playing for Armenia. It was also lucky that Arsen Zakharyan fired early. Dynamo managed to play for the Russian national team before he thought about playing for the capture of the motherland.
Since the decision was made in 2020, not accepted by legionnaires in the RPL and FNL, football players from the EAEU countries, Football from players to Armenia. Russia’s new rule just did not pass the use. It is worth remembering another player who could be a candidate for our team today – Khoren Bayramyan. For Valery Karpin, the midfielder is an important figure in Rostov. Bayramyan no longer risks losing his place in the club due to his legionnaire status, so he accepted the invitation of the Armenian Federation.
In a probable situation, the current main goalkeeper of the Armenian national team David Yurchenko also appears. He only moved to the country where his mother came from at the age of 34, and before that he did not want to receive the status of a legionnaire in Russia. In addition, there was a period when Yurchenko, after bright seasons in the RPL, became a real candidate for our national team. David also played some brilliant matches in the Armenian national team, making you think that he could get into the top 3 Russian goalkeepers.
David Yurchenko in the Armenian national team
Photo: Alex Nicodemus/Getty Images
Spertsyan, Bayramyan, Yurchenko – are not found in the list of former Russian football players in the Armenian national team. The federation resumes a powerful audience for the naturalization of players with Armenian roots. Either serving in the election of the championship and the national team.
In the fall of 2020, the 25-year-old ex-player of our youth team Arshak Koryan made his debut in the Armenian national team. Now they have forgotten about the winger, since he does not play very productively in the FNL, but then the native of Sochi had a good segment in Khimki after returning to Russia from the Dutch Vitesse. In terms of potential, Koryan had every chance to shoot at the RPL.
In 2021, four more players with Armenian roots began to play for the national team. This is 21-year-old midfielder Artyom Avanesyan (born in Balashikha, went through CSKA school), 23-year-old midfielder Davidyan Davidyan (born in Nizhny Novgorod, patron of Khimki), 28-year-old striker Ishkhan Geloyan (grew up in Russia, belongs to Baltika “and spent most of his career in the FNL) and 30-year-old goalkeeper Stanislav Buchnev (a native of Vladikavkaz, until 2020 he played only for Russian clubs).
“I wanted to play for Russia.” We figure out how our team missed the talent of Krasnodar
In part, a powerful selection policy helped the Armenian team. The Caparros team began the qualification for the 2022 World Cup and after four rounds they even lead in their qualifying group with the participation of the winners and one draw, but then slowed down – they finished in fourth place. The last friendly match of March 2022 ended in a nightmare: a 0-9 defeat to Norway by Erling Haaland. And in this situation, the Armenian Federation continues to look for options to cover the national team.
Perhaps the RFU should revise the rule on the status of players from the EAEU. In this case, we risk losing other gifted players, following Spertsyan. Only because someone accumulates later than the rest.