Lokomotiv Moscow un-retire the No.10 shirt for Tino Anjorin, seeing him as the next Kevin De Bruyne

However highly you might rate Tino Anjorin coming out of the Chelsea Academy, it’s safe to say that Ralf Rangnick rates him even higher. The former Red Bull football supremo and current Lokomotiv Moscow head of player development reportedly identified the 19-year-old as a key part of his new project at the Russian Premier League side, and launched a charm offensive that surely very few would’ve been able to resist, let alone someone as ambitious, promising, and in need of regular playing time as Anjorin.

As detailed by The Athletic, Rangnick convinced Anjorin to go to Russia by presenting a detailed plan for his development and first-team involvement, and even rating him as high on the talent scales as Kevin De Bruyne. Words are of course one thing, but Lokomotiv have already sprung into action to show their trust and commitment as well, and have given the Chelsea loanee their legendary No.10 shirt, which had been retired for the last eight years. In fact, the legend himself, Dmitri Loskov, their all-time leader in appearances and goals, and who became an assistant coach at the club after retiring, presented Anjorin with the shirt.

Is that perhaps a bit too much pressure on the youngster? Clearly, they don’t think it’s too much for him to handle, and unless something goes terribly wrong, they also intend to activate their £17m buy-option as early as January — which comes with a £34m buy-back clause for us. So we can all hope that this works out as well as Rangnick and Lokomotiv are expecting.

G’wan, Tino!