Vladimir Bystrov feels good to be home

Vladimir Bystrov has made the headlines thanks to his beautiful goal in the derby match against CSKA, which was his fourth in as many games for his new/old club Zenit. Not only did he score a great goal, but he terrorized CSKA defenders, most of whom are regulars in the national team, throughout the match despite playing through the pain barrier and the big European clubs must be regretting their decision not to sign him last summer.

Bystrov came through the youth ranks at Zenit, where he became the first team regular when he was 19 but it was his transfer to arch rivals Spartak Moscow that caused a lot of controversy. That was, however, a great career move for one of the quickest players in Europe and it was at Spartak that he made a name for himself. Bystrov quickly became the first team regular in the national team as well and played a big part in Russia’s Euro 2008 campaign.

Bystrov (translates to ‘fast’ in English) continued to terrorize defenders in the Russian Premier League, which became one of the strongest European leagues in recent years. He was heavily linked with a move to the English Premiership last summer and was thought to be on the verge of joining Everton but he instead opted to return to his hometown club with Zenit paying 15 million euros for the pacey winger.

The player quickly proved he was definitely the best winger in the Russian League by scoring in every one of the first four games upon return to Zenit, with his performance in the big derby against CSKA particularly impressive. Even though he was expected to sit out the game through injury, Bystrov opted to play through the pain barrier and he wreaked havoc on CSKA defenders creating several chances for his teammates before scoring a beautiful goal on the counterattack.

The excellent winger showed he felt at home at Zenit and the fans have already started to forget that he had once left the club to join fierce rivals Spartak. Even though Zenit have only just bought Bystrov, they will have big problems to keep hold of the Russian international if he continues playing at the same level. The only difference is that big European clubs will have to delve deep into the pocket this time if they want to make things right for having failed to sign him last summer. I am positive we will be hearing a lot more of Bystrov in the coming weeks.

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