Almost immediately after the end of the season, Lokomotiv officially broke up with Artem Dzyuba. The news did not become a sensation—the management’s reluctance to retain the veteran had been obvious for at least the last six months. Read about how the striker ended up in Cherkizovo and why they decided to get rid of him so quickly.
To save themselves, Lokomotiv needed Dzyuba. In the summer of 2022, Dzyuba found himself at a crossroads. The contract with Zenit came to an end, Sergei Semak no longer saw him in the team, so for the first time in many years the striker had to look for a new club. The search dragged on throughout the summer, despite the abundance of rumors surrounding one of the most high-status free agents in the RPL. As a result, Artem did not make the most obvious decision and, almost at the end of the transfer window, he left for the Turkish Adana Demirspor. Abroad, the striker did not do well at all — he appeared on the field only five times, and after a few months the contract was terminated.
After an unsuccessful trip to Turkey, Dzyuba decided to return to Russia, which seemed to be the right decision. The age for experimentation is no longer the same — he had to find a team in which he is guaranteed to play and produce results. Lokomotiv was ideal in this regard. The capital's club experienced a terrifying autumn in 2022, which included the resignation of Josef Zinnbauer, a place in the play-off zone, and dramatic changes in management. The team entered the spring part of the championship with a new coach and management, but also needed to strengthen the squad.
First of all, Lokomotiv needed Dzyuba as a fighting unit. In the 17 rounds before his appearance, the Muscovites scored only 20 goals, while Zenit, which was in first place, already had 47. Moreover, the status of the team's top scorer belonged to Anton Miranchuk, who scored four of his five goals from the penalty spot. Wilson Izidor did not provide the required performance, Ivan Ignatiev and Marko Rakognac did not reach this level at all. Therefore, the inclusion of such a deserving scorer in the lineup was vital to salvage the dismal season.
But an equally significant factor in Artem’s invitation was his skills in the locker room. You can imagine what was going on inside the team at the time of his arrival. The terrible “German” stage has just ended, a new leadership has arrived with its own vision, the place in the table is as shameful as possible. Perhaps no one thought about relegation from the RPL, but the mood in the team was definitely below par. So Dziuba’s ability to set up his partners or defuse the atmosphere with a joke came in very handy.
The best transfer of the new Lokomotiv? Apparently, initially Lokomotiv was not confident that Artem would live up to expectations. Therefore, the contract was signed only until the end of the season. But, as you know, Dzyuba gives his best precisely when people doubt him, and especially when they write him off. At that moment, he was already a veteran well over 30, many experts managed to give up on him, especially after an unsuccessful trip to Turkey. Plus, Lokomotiv fans, to put it mildly, reacted ambiguously to the transfer. And under such pressure, the bet on Dzyuba played out to the fullest.
Artem shut the critics' mouths already in his debut match. Lokomotiv faced a difficult trip to Rostov, where they achieved a major victory thanks to a hat-trick from the newcomer. Before him, only two people scored so many goals in the first game in the RPL — Yura Movsisyan in Spartak and Anders Dreyer in Rubin. But Dzyuba’s achievement was perhaps even more significant, since he was without practice for several months and did not even go through a full training camp with Lokomotiv.
After such a start, Artem secured a place in the starting lineup and missed only two matches until the end of the season due to a muscle injury. During this period, the forward played several more outstanding games, including scoring a hat-trick of assists against Orenburg (4:1). In total, the veteran scored eight goals and four assists in 11 rounds — a great indicator! At the same time, Lokomotiv suffered only one defeat with him, but from Dzyuba’s most important rival, Zenit (1:2).
As a result, after signing Artyom, the capital’s club rose from 14th place to 8th and every third goal was scored with his direct participation. The management did not wait for the end of the season and already at the end of May offered the striker a new contract under the “1+1” scheme. It is noteworthy that in the first match after signing the agreement — with Dynamo (4:2) — Dzyuba entered the field with the captain's armband. It seemed that next season it would be around the veteran that the team would be built, setting itself much more ambitious goals than saving itself from relegation.
Dziuba was “shrouded” so as not to renew his contract. The start of the new season did not foretell a change in Artem’s status. The striker was still a consistent starter and seemed to be the leader of the locker room. But his performance dropped sharply — in the first part of the championship, Dzyuba scored only four goals and three assists. But he managed to partially take revenge on Zenit, which lost to Lokomotiv in both matches (2:1, 3:1). However, the brightness of last season was no longer there.
In 2024, Artem lost his place in the starting lineup and was, at best, a substitute. Since March, he played all 90 minutes only in the Russian Cup match with Baltika (1:1, 6:7 on penalties). Moreover, Dzyuba failed to score in the penalty shootout, which is why the capital club withdrew from the race. In the championship, the veteran spent less than two hours on the field without any effective action. And the last time he received playing time was back in April, when he came out at the end of the derby with Spartak (2:3).
Apparently, already in the winter, Lokomotiv began to think that the team no longer needed Dzyuba. The fact is that for the automatic renewal of the contract, Artem needed to take ten effective actions. Taking into account the Russian Cup, the striker already had eight (4+4) points, so with active involvement in the spring, his chances of extending the agreement were almost one hundred percent. If the club stopped counting on him, there was only one option to avoid this — not to let him on the field.
We don’t know Dziuba’s own reaction to this turn of events — he long ago refused to communicate with the press and appeared in mixed zones only for show. But in May, the player’s position was voiced by his representative Leonid Goldman, who went through the club management and personally Mikhail Galaktionov. In particular, he accused the coach of lack of courage, since no one said anything to Artem’s face. It should be noted that the Lokomotiv coach never publicly criticized the football player, but on the contrary, he praised him for his work in training and his usefulness in the locker room. But when it came to choosing the lineup, there was no striker in it.
“The fact that there are people in the leadership of Lokomotiv who were initially negative towards Artem is no secret to anyone. They opposed his signing and the extension of the contract last summer, and were very worried that automatic extension after this season. It didn’t even start in the spring, but in the fall. For example, after the match with Spartak, where Dzyuba scored a goal, certain questions were already sent behind the scenes to the head coach: what will we do if Dzyuba is extended according to the conditions. contract? And what kind of sports principle can we talk about here?” — Goldman said in an interview with Match TV.
Dzyuba will not have any problems with employment. After the speech of Dzyuba’s representative, it became obvious that his career at Lokomotiv was coming to an end. He did not appear on the field again — he either remained in the reserves or was not included in the lineup for medical reasons. In the end, everything came to a logical conclusion to the story: the capital club officially announced their separation.
In fact, such situations are not uncommon. You can remember how Dmitry Alenichev in Spartak was forced to “marinate” Roman Shirokov in the reserves so that he would not accumulate the required number of minutes to extend his contract. At the same time, this does not mean that this should be treated as normal practice. It is unclear why they signed a new contract on such terms if they were already disappointed in the player six months later. And judging by Goldman’s words, initially the management had great doubts about Dziuba.
It should be noted that Lokomotiv learned to cope without Artem. In the spring, Muscovites did not lose a single match in which the striker did not appear on the field. They finished the championship with a series of four victories, and Timur Suleymanov took over the functions of scorer, who fit perfectly into Galaktionov’s formation. It would seem that there was logic in the actions of the club’s management, but everything was done somehow ugly and not in a sportsmanlike manner.
It is unlikely that Lokomotiv will incur any costs from parting with Dzyuba, except perhaps reputational ones. Much more interesting is the future of the striker, who will turn 36 in August. As Goldman stated, he is not going to end his career, and he already has several options.
< br>A move to China to join Leonid Slutsky immediately suggests itself, but this is not yet possible due to the local limit on foreign players. And Goldman noted that Artem’s priority is to stay in Russia. The leading RPL clubs can probably be crossed out. A return to Zenit or Spartak is impossible for ideological reasons; Dynamo, Krasnodar and CSKA do not need him; Valery Karpin will never call him to Rostov. Accordingly, you will have to choose from the teams of the second eight, including because there Dzyuba can count on a place in the starting lineup.
There may be different options here. By and large, he would be useful to any team. Why not Akhmat, who just broke up with Mohamed Konate? Or “Ural”, where honored veterans like Pavel Pogrebnyak have already come? And the newcomers — Khimki and Dynamo Makhachkala — probably wouldn’t refuse such an experienced player. True, everything here will also depend on finances. Even if Goldman says that football comes first for Artem, he is unlikely to want to go below a certain salary level.
In any case, I would like Dzyuba to remain in the RPL. Despite the abundance of scandals, conflicts, and controversial statements, Artem is one of the most media-rich football players in the country. Any of his appearances in public becomes an event, and on the football field all attention is focused on him. Not to mention the fact that by the standards of the Russian championship, this is still a very strong striker who has not said the last word. In addition, now Lokomotiv has also entered the list of Dzyuba’s principal rivals — I want to see how they will play against yet another former club.
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