‘The Boy Has Got Skills’ – Premier League target Alan Dzagoev

Russian football has been on the rise in recent years. The likes of Andrei Arshavin and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov have made their way across Europe to the Premiership. With the investment in Russian clubs at an all time high, they have finally begun to find gems in their vast country which may make them a force to be reckoned within Europe for years to come. One of these gems is a man called Alan Dzagoev. A 19 year old attacking midfielder/second striker, Dzagoev may well go on to be a world star to eclipse the likes of his countryman Arshavin.

He first came to the attention of many during Manchester United’s 3-3 draw with CSKA Moscow a few weeks ago. He scored one and played a part in the other two CSKA goals, exposing Man United’s fragile defensive pairing of Jonny Evans and Wes Brown. Born in North Ossetia, Dzagoev’s star has risen rapidly after making his debut for CSKA less than two years ago. Excelling in his first season in the Russian Premier league, he won the best young player of the season award and made his debut for Russia in a crucial World Cup qualifier against Germany in October 2008. In the process of doing so he became the youngest ever out field player to play for the national side at the age of 18 years and 116 days.

He is known for his fantastic vision and awareness, power and pace, his ability to pick out a crucial pass and of scoring spectacular goals. The first goal against Besiktas in this season’s Champions League is a particular highlight:

Against Manchester United he impressed once again. He scored the first goal against United from a very tight angle; he then played a crucial role in the second to put CSKA back in the lead as he dummied the ball for Czech striker Tomas Necid to play in Milos Krasic who finished off a flowing move. At the start of the second half he delivered a free kick to put CSKA remarkably 3-1 up as he found Vasili Berezutsky completely unmarked in the box. Unaware of the talent of Dzagoev, the Man U players gave the young Russian talent room to play in. As a deep lying playmaker both Brown and Evans didn’t know what to do with him as he moved across the pitch to pick up balls and then pick out excellent weighted passes:

This boy has skills to excite any top European club, and Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Real Madrid have all looked at the player.  Russis coach Guus Hiddink has said:

He is young but with some improvement he will be ready for the Premier League within 12 months. I am convinced of that.

He may be a future star, look out for him: