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The Armymen, as they’re known due to their origins as the army club of the Soviet military are the only club to have won the Russia treble, in a football context that is like no other due to the extreme demands of travel, climate and culture that underpin their competition. CSKA secured automatic Champions League qualification on the closing day of the 2017/18 season after their arch-rivals Spartak lost out on second place after a 2-1 defeat to fellow Moscow club, Dinamo.
In the same season, CSKA reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League after defeating Lyon and Red Star Belgrade in heroic circumstances. Though they lost out 6-3 on aggregate against Arsenal in the quarter finals, the Russians gave Arsene Wenger’s men a run for their money in Moscow, valiantly fighting and earning a 2-2 draw. Before being demoted to the Europa League, CSKA played against Manchester United, Basel and Benfica in the 2017/18 Champions League, defeating the Portuguese giants twice and the Swiss once.
CSKA are nothing short of a force to be reckoned with. This term, CSKA find themselves in transition following the culmination of preseason business. Superstar Aleksandr Golovin left for AS Monaco in a big money move, Brazilian Vitinho went back to his home country, whereas veterans Bibars Natcho and Pontus Wernbloom both departed to Greece on free transfers. These losses were heavy enough, but the retirements of CSKA’s infamous ‘old guard’ (defence) consisting of the Berezutski twins and Sergey Ignashevich mean that this CSKA team has been effectively dismantled. In addition, Aaron Olanare and Georgi Milanov also left Moscow, though their departures were nothing compared to the other, high profile, transfers out of the VEB Arena.
CSKA’s aged defence had been a beloved running joke in the Russian football community for a long time. Tweets telling you that CSKA’s back three had a combined age of 110 years were recycled ad nauseum on Twitter prior to every CSKA matchday. Nonetheless, with the ‘old guard’ gone and the supporting cast dispersed, surely no-one would have predicted the next turn of events - a stellar season for CSKA so far. The Moscow club had received 40 million euros from the transfers of Golovin and Vitinho, and given the club’s history of bringing players like Vagner Love, Seydou Doumbia and Jo, to the club, you might have anticipated that the recruitment department could have unearthed one or two comparable players to grace the VEB Arena. But surely no more than that?
However, CSKA’s arrivals turned out to be, mature pros from far flung locations, but rather a delightful surprise for those who love youth football. CSKA signed nine players in the summer, including loans, and just two of them were above 22 years of age – and none were above 27. The two ‘older’ arrivals were Hull City striker Abel Hernandez (27), and Bristol City defender Hordur Magnusson (25). The Armymen spent a combined 2.8 million on the two players and given their quality, this is nothing short of good business.
Now, let’s talk about the rest of the arrivals. Croatian prospect Nikola Vlasic (20) and Brazilian defender Rodrigo Becao (22) joined the club on loan; highly-rated 20-year-old Ilzat Akhmetov joined from Rubin Kazan on a free; Jaka Bijol (19) signed from Slovenia’s Rudar Velenje, striker Takuma Nishimura (21) joined from Vegalta Sendai in Japan. The midfielders Ivan Oblyakov (20) and Arnor Sigurdsson (19) joined from Ufa and Norrkoping in Sweden respectively. CSKA paid a mere 9.4 million on these four players, pushing their overall expenditure up to 12.2 million euros. To add to that, Nikita Chernov (22) and Khetag Khosonov (20) were promoted to the first team, and Aleksandr Makarov (22) and Dmitri Efremov (23) returned to Moscow after finishing loan spells. Naturally, these transfers drastically altered the shape of the CSKA team and the age profile of the squad.
Currently, merely eight of CSKA’s 25 first team squad are over 23 years of age, and the average age of the squad is just 23.7 years. What’s even more exciting is that apart from the new arrivals, the club has a multitude of exceptional young players. The 20-year-old, Fedor Chalov is currently the top scorer in the Russian League, Kristijan Bistrovic (20) and Konstantin Kuchaev (20) have both been revelations for CSKA.To top this all off, the club has an enthusiast, perfectly attuned to developing young talent, at the helm in 41-year-old manager Viktor Goncharenko.
Though CSKA’s work in the summer resembles an U23 only Football Manager save, there’s been a natural period of adjustment on the field. As the new side sought cohesion, CSKA picked up just two points in their first three games, as they drew to newly promoted Yenisey and Krylya Sovetov and lost to Rostov. Things have looked up since then, as the Armymen have hammered Ural, Arsenal Tula and Ufa by three or more goals. In addition they’ve drawn with Rubin Kazan and their derby rivals Spartak Moscow. After a rough start, CSKA sit fourth in the league with 16 points in nine games. The club is also on an unbeaten run that has spanned eight games, their only loss came against Rostov on the opening day of the season. Despite these positives, there is still much to do at the club, and a Herculean effort will be required to both win the league and/or qualify for the Champions League.
Injuries have also plagued CSKA’s start to the season, sadly. Looking at the U23s, Khosonov, who won them the Russian Super Cup with an extra-time goal, suffered a fracture. Kuchaev, one of the club’s most impressive prospects has an ACL tear. Bistrovic and Makarov are also sidelined. Key older players have also been suffering. Starting left-back Georgi Schennikov and centre-back Viktor Vasin is out injured too. However, star playmaker Alan Dzagoev has recently returned from injury and his quality and experience will be a massive help aheaf of key games in all competitions.
CSKA’s Champions League draw was not kind to them in the slightest, though it could be an excellent learning experience and opportunity for the team’s youngsters to prove themselves. The Armymen will play against Real Madrid, AS Roma and Viktoria Plzen in the competition, and though they almost definitely won’t reach the round of 16, they should, on paper, finish third ahead of the Czechs and reach the Europa League once again. However, as we know so well, 'on paper' doesn't always translate to results on the field of play. In their first group game against Plzen, CSKA had to come back from two goals down at half-time to salvage a point, meaning that their Champions League campaign got off to an inauspicious start. Despite this, they're still expected to beat the Czechs at home in the return fixture and at least manage to finish third and any other positives along the way could blow the group wide open.
The Russian League hasn’t often been blessed with a surfeit of young talent. Indeed, those without a professional interest in the league consider it to be something of a retirement league, which is an erroneous assertion in my view. But as it is, CSKA’s experiment is the most compelling story currently occupying Russian football observers. With games against Madrid, rivals Lokomotiv Moscow and Tyumen up next, it'll be interesting to see how CSKA’s young side cope with the rigours of a tough, jam-packed schedule. But whatever comes next, it promises to be anything but dull.
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