Arsen Zakharyan hopeful Chelsea transfer will get done in January

Chelsea were hoping to add highly rated 19-year-old midfield Arsen Zakharyan this summer, and were willing to pay his €15m release clause, but — not unexpectedly — ran into some rather “impossible” administrative difficulties as far as actually making that payment to a Russian Premier League team, and thus had to shelve the idea until at least January.

The youngster has admitted that the postponement has left him a bit disappointed, but he’s hoping that things will get done in the next transfer window instead. In the meantime, he’s using that disappointment to up his game — while also dealing with some gentle teasing and trolling from teammates, such as Fedor Smolov chanting “Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea” as he walked by the post-match interview following Dinamo Moscow’s 2-1 win over Ural last night.

“I survived [the failed transfer] normally. I have a contract with Dynamo. You have to play and show yourself. [...] Well, I was a little sad, but already moved on. The guys teased me. They joked in the locker room. Regular jokes, nothing more.”

“I knew [Chelsea] were interested in me before. [...] Of course, it’s nice that such advances are given to me, that big clubs are watching me. I will try even harder. There was an offer, but it just didn’t work out. You probably know the reasons. How could I refuse?

“Everything related to these things, we will decide together with the club. I cannot comment on this. I hope everything will be fine. To the next window? Maybe.”

-Arsen Zakharyan; source: Sport-Express via Google Translate

It’s not ideal to have to filter the words through the auto-translator, but I think we get the gist of it. And no, he wasn’t about to switch citizenships or any such convoluted nonsense.

The transfer remains simply the matter of finding a way to actually do this business amid all the restrictions and sanctions.