Jesus Medina from CSKA and Theo Bongonda from Cadiz are moving to Spartak
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Spartak Moscow made two major and so far the most expensive transfers of the current off-season in the Russian Premier League (RPL). The capital club has already announced the signing of a contract with Jesus Medina from CSKA and agreed on the terms of the transfer of Theo Bongonda from the Spanish Cadiz. For two midfielders, the red-whites will lay out, according to unofficial data, about €17 million in total, including bonuses. At the same time, it should be noted that both players are left-footed and have almost the same functionality.
On Monday, Spartak introduced its first newcomer by signing an agreement with midfielder Jesus Medina, who played for CSKA and helped the army team last season conquer silver medals of the championship, as well as the Cup of Russia. It is not surprising that even before the official completion, this transfer made a lot of noise, causing no less resonance than the deal of the ex-defender of the red and blue Mario Fernandez with Zenit.
As you know, Spartak and CSKA are such principled and irreconcilable rivals that transfers between clubs are actually taboo. Not so long ago, there was a case when Roman Shirokov formally moved from Spartak to CSKA, but after he had previously terminated the contract with the red and white. It seems that the Spartacists and the army team give a signature about the impossibility of moving to the camp of a sworn enemy. So Medina in one of the interviews publicly “swore” that he would never move to Spartak. In addition, it seemed that this transfer was also impossible for sports reasons, given how much benefit the Paraguayan brought to the red and blue.
At the end of the last championship, Medina was the second most productive player in CSKA and tenth in the entire Premier League, scoring 15 points (8 + 7) in the “goal plus pass” system.
And in just 45 matches for the army team, he scored 12 goals and gave 10 assists. They don’t refuse players with such statistics, but if they offer good money, they are sold, and even, as it turns out, to Spartak. So the transfer of Medina took place, most likely, for the simple reason that, from a financial point of view, both CSKA and the Paraguayan himself were more than satisfied.
The army club will help out for him, according to information Transfermarkt, €6 million and another €1 million in bonuses, despite the fact that I took it in January 2022 for free. And Medina will earn twice as much at Spartak: according to unofficial data, € 1.6 million per year with a three-year contract. And he, probably, has not yet become attached to CSKA for a season and a half. And Spartak is trained by the Spanish specialist Guillermo Abascal, with whom they will be able to communicate in the same language. In addition, as part of the red-and-whites, Medina will join her compatriot, defender Alexis Duarte, which is also an important factor.
In principle, Spartak can be congratulated on a successful transfer, which does not carry any special risks, since the team received not only a qualified player, but also a player fully adapted to the Russian championship. Another question is that at the same time the Spartacists acquire, if not its exact copy, then a similar performer in the person of Theo Bongond, whose transfer will be officially announced in the near future.
Belgian, who has recently played for the DR Congo national team, they looked after in Cadiz, which finished 14th in the last Spanish championship. Even despite a modest four goals and three assists, he became the club’s leader in this indicator. But earlier in three seasons in the Belgian Genk, Bongonda scored 36 goals and assisted partners 20 times. He also played at home in Zulte Waregem and the Spanish Celta.
Like Medina, Bongonda is left-handed. Both are considered attacking group players. Both have the main role on the field – the right winger. But both can act on the left and in positions under the attackers.
They are similar in anthropometric data and even almost the same age: Medina is 26 years old, and Bongonda is 27. Of course, there are nuances. The Paraguayan, for example, is distinguished by his ability to carry out submissions into the penalty area from set pieces and, in particular, corners. The Belgian, on the other hand, is famous for his bright dribbling and is generally capable of creating a scoring chance alone.
Nevertheless, in general, their functionality is identical, and Abascal still apparently has to puzzle over how to effectively use newcomers. After all, the left flank is firmly occupied by the main star of the red-and-white Quincy Promes, and keeping one of them in reserve is an unaffordable luxury at such transfer costs. Moreover, Spartak will pay more for Bongonda than for Medina. According to Spanish media, we are talking about compensation in the amount of €7 million plus €3 million in bonuses.
It turns out that in total Spartak is ready to shell out €17 million for players of approximately the same plan. And while it is difficult to say what it is: another bias in the selection policy of the capital club or a tactically well-thought-out move that will solve problems in attack. And then last season there was a feeling that, except for Promes and Alexander Sobolev, there was no one to score in the team. Theoretically, the transfers of Medina and Bongond should add goals to her.
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