On 31th of August, deadline day, three players went from Russia to England. It’s the first time since 2008 (the Russian national team got a bronze medal in Euros that year) that many players were transferred to England — yes, three is many for the Russian league. Ironically, none of those three are Russians: West Ham bought Nikola Vlašić (Croatian) from CSKA Moscow and loaned Alex Král (Czech) from Spartak Moscow, and Norwich City loaned Mathias Normann (Norwegian) from Rostov. An average FPL player hardly even knows them, so here is a tactical breakdown of each former Russian league player and what their transfers mean in terms of FPL.
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New Players from Russian Premier League and their FPL impact
Nikola Vlašić.
Tactics. Vlašić (important detail: pronounced Vlash-itch) was the headliner of the CSKA attack for three years and arguably the headliner of the whole Russian league. He was loaned from Everton in 2018, and a year later CSKA decided to buy the Croatian midfielder. Fee was undisclosed, but reports say the Russian club paid 14 million pounds — a huge deal for Russian clubs which are not from Saint-Petersburg. It paid off: Vlašić became a leader and accumulated 28 goals and 15 assists in 81 league matches in three seasons. Add some important goals in Champions League (the only goal against Real Madrid in 1-0 win, brace vs. Viktoria Plzen in 2-2 draw) and you will get the idea behind this deal for the Moscow club.
He was in top-2 in the team for xG and top-1 for xA every season, constantly overperforming his xG (which means great shooting skills) and underperforming his xA (which means the quality of chances and partners’ inability to finish these chances). West Ham paid 30 million pounds plus add-ons for Nikola. That’s the fourth-highest fee to be paid for a Croatian player ever. Let’s see why they did that and what will Vlašić add to the team.
Vlašić was the focal point in every CSKA attack for a reason: when with the ball, Nikola could do magic. He’s not afraid of tight spaces and can provide his teammates with the ball from every position. Nikola constantly was on the top of the list for entries into the box (both via passes and runs). I don’t expect him to claim this role in his new club right away, but this transfer has great potential. In my opinion, the Croatian would be a very good addition to almost every team in the Premier League (except Man City and Chelsea, due to playing style and overload of creative players), so West Ham are lucky to grab him. Nikola definitely does not lack any determination as he was born in a sports family: father Joško was a professional athlete, mother Venera was a Jugoslavian ski-racing champion, and his sister Blanka won silver medals in the Olympics-2008 and is a four-time world champion in athletics jumping.
FPL verdict. Vlašić will be instructed in Moyes’ system as a ten (more likely) or a right inside. He prefers to operate in right halfspaces near the box since it’s the area Nikola always brings chaos from. Vlašić will not be deployed immediately, but his transfer brings rotation options to the squad, and whenever Fornals/Benrahma/Bowen are out for a significant period of time, I will definitely consider bringing him in for 6.0m. Great player overall, great possible FPL option for the future.
Read more. Great piece of analysis on Vlašić here. Check it out for deeper tactical information!
Alex Král.
Tactics. Král plays as a defensive central midfielder. A six, an eight — doesn’t really matter for him. Obviously, this loan is supposed to give Declan Rice and Tomaš Soućek some rotation time with Europa League plus backup in case of the injury (the end of the last season for West Ham was the clearest sign for this deal). The issue with Král when he was in Spartak — unfortunately, he was bought after I ended my working relationship with the club — is that he is… what’s the word, not that smart football-wise. Alex started out as a defender, came into the midfield later. Best role for him in my opinion is a classical box-to-box in the double pivot. Král lacks proper decision-making, rarely scans the space around him (very important detail for a CM on and off the ball), very ball-oriented when the team is defending so opponents can mark him as a liability in positional attacks.
Don’t get me wrong, Král is a fine player who gives it all for the result, and even more than that: Moyes’ style might make him blossom. But the comparison of Alex’s potential to shine and be acknowledged with Vlašić’s has very little sense. Good rotation/backup option for West Ham, won’t start over Rice or Soućek in any given scenario when these two are alive and well.
FPL verdict. Don’t. His absolute maximum is two-three returns at best. Král is tall enough to win duels in the center of the field, but not really dangerous from corners or open play — only 1 goal in 114 matches throughout their senior club career. It’s also hard to believe that Král’s arrival will provoke Moyes to switch to three-man midfield (and therefore damaging attacking assets), so we’re all fine here. Even with him being nailed on there would be better 4.5m options.
Read more. For all Russian-speaking readers: feel free to DM me for interesting links (I’m not really agreeing with opinions laid in those, but that’s still a discussion).
Mathias Normann.
Tactics. A very fascinating transfer as I, personally, would be pleased to see Normann play more often (at least I hope so). I highly rate the Norwegian: in my opinion, he was one of the best CMs in the Russian league. Operating as a single pivot (!) for FC Rostov, he was amongst the best for both through passes and passes to final third per 90. His passing ability is great, and Normann often goes for risky passing options with high expected reward. Mathias is good in attacks even without the ball, constantly offering himself in free spaces on the opponent’s half (but rarely making aggressive runs due to his position).
Normann is very good in aerial duels which feels quite surreal considering his height — only 179 cm or 5’9 ft. And yet the Norwegian positions himself in the most uncomfortable way his vis-a-vis can possibly imagine, so Mathias ended up winning over 71% of aerial duels last season.
His football intellect is definitely on the Premier League level, and he is definitely a player worth starting for a team like Norwich. The only issue would be the style discrepancy between Rostov and Norwich City. Rostov were strictly a vertical side with high intensity and attack speed, and Norwich under Farke are more of a horizontal team (i.e. 1.3 meter per second speed in a 19/20 season: fourth-lowest except for Man City, Chelsea under Sarri and Arsenal — you get the idea). Here are the passing clusters for Normann and Norwich last season which show the most often types of passes for the player and for the team respectively (courtesy of @xg_blocknote):
This might change this season with Rashica and Tzolis transfers, so we’ll keep an eye on that. In other words, interest in Norwich is higher than ever for me and I won’t miss a single game with Normann in.
FPL verdict. This is a tough one. Obviously a wait-and-see case, but mainly because we don’t know how Normann will be used. It’s unlikely that Daniel Farke will forget about 4-3-3 especially with the new player with such abilities, but there are two massive questions. Will Normann sufficiently adapt to the new playing style (or vice versa) and will he play as a deep-lying playmaker (a six with the ball) or as a mezzala-esque type of player (an eight with the ball)? Either way, if Farke trusts Normann — as he should — it opens up a spicy 4.5m option from Norwich midfield. If he’s a six, then it frees Gilmour as more of a creator. If he’s an eight, then Mathias himself will be the great enabler who can easily be in your starting eleven. Also bear in mind that he is on corners for Norway national team due to his great passing technique AND he plays in double-pivot as an eight alongside with Berge or Thorsby there. Be assured, I will be monitoring Normann and will share thoughts on him in my tweets!
Read more. Top-notch deep analysis of Normann right here, enjoy!
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Artem Gekht
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