EDUARD SPERTSYAN CELTIC’S MISSING MIDFIELD SPARK?
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 25 minutes ago
- 3 min read
In the world’s current political climate, many seem to have forgotten that Russia still has a functioning and indeed very well supported domestic football league.
It seems Celtic haven’t forgotten about this international pariah though, as they are apparently monitoring one of the Russian Premier League’s most exciting playmakers.
Krasnodar’s Eduard Spertsyan: Celtic Link Reported in Russian Media
It’s not very often I get to say “Armenia” and “creative midfielder” in the same sentence but here we are. Celtic are, according to several sources in Russia, interested in Armenia’s creative midfielder Eduard Spertsyan.
The 25-year-old is currently in his 7th year with Krasnodar. He’s also a regular fixture in the Armenian national team, earning 34 caps since his debut back in 2021 and scoring 9 goals.
His club record is pretty decent for a midfielder too. In 115 games for Krasnodar’s first team, since being promoted from their B-Team equivalent “Krasnodar-2”, he’s scored 40 goals.
A couple of years ago, he was being touted as one of the next big Russian League exports to Europe. There was talk of interest from the likes of Ajax and Newcastle United.
Then the Russian government decided to invade Ukraine, and Krasnodar, through no fault of their own, found themselves exiled from European competition.
Suddenly all those big European clubs lost interest not just in Spertsyan, but in most of the other emerging talents in the Russian Premier League.
I still follow the Russian Premier League occasionally, and Krasnodar in particular. Back when the pandemic led to most of World football shutting down, two leagues where I could still watch games were Belarus and Russia.
So, I found myself, following Bate Borisov in Belarus and later Krasnodar in Russia. It’s amazing the things you’ll start watching when you’re stuck at home with far too much time on your hands!
Now I can’t speak to the veracity of the Russian language sources here. Unlike The Daily Record, I’ll admit when I’m having to rely almost entirely on Google Translate.
However, this does past my initial test of having at least three independent and unconnected sources running the story.
Additionally, we know Celtic have enquired about this player before. The BBC ran a story to that effect back in April 2024.
Of course, geopolitics being as it is, we probably shouldn’t trust most of what we see or hear in Russia’s tightly controlled news media.
That being said, somehow, I don’t think Putin and his underlings are going to see an Armenian possibly going to Celtic as a story they’d need to make up or unduly influence.
So I think we can give the news sources in Russia the benefit of the doubt on this one.
Spertsyan is a very good player. He is however a player whose value has fallen recently, and largely through no fault of his own.
Celtic could pick up a goal-scoring creative midfielder here for significantly less than his true market value.
And we did ok last time we signed a player from Krasnodar. That was Swedish defender Carl Starfelt, a player that, arguably, we still haven’t fully replaced.
With Celtic recently scouting players in the Japanese market again after a couple of years away, it shouldn’t really come as much of a surprise that we are also looking at the Russian Premier League once again.
Both leagues have a similar profile. They produce strong, fit footballers, with good technical ability, even if question marks remain about whether they can step up to the level required at Celtic.
Spertsyan would be a speculative signing, but from what I remember of seeing him play, I think it would be a risk worth taking.
This is one to watch with interest and see how it develops.