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2004 Russian Premier League champion Lokomotiv Moscow, preparing for the upcoming season and participation in the Champions League, decided to strengthen the team by acquiring several players.
The latest acquisition for Deividas Česnauskas' club is Russian national team defender Aleksei Bugaev. Bugaev, a 26-year-old who has represented his national team six times, signed a three-year contract with Lokomotiv.
This is already the fourth deal for Lokomotiv this month - previously, goalkeeper Aleksei Poliakov was brought back, Belarusian national team defender Sergei Omelyanchuk was purchased from Kyiv's Arsenal, and former teammate of Bugaev in Torpedo, Russian youth national team forward Igor Lebedenko, was also acquired.
The reigning champions did not forget about the players who were strong pillars during the successful season, so contracts were also extended with captain Dmitri Loskov, defender Vadim Evseev, and goalkeeper Vladimir Maminov.
Meanwhile, St. Petersburg's Zenit, who led the championship for a long time but eventually finished in fourth place last season, has high ambitions as well. Lithuanian E. Majus spent half a season playing for Zenit's reserves, but the new club acquisitions have further reduced his chances of ever appearing in the first team.
They bought Norwegian national team defender Erik Hagen for a million euros, paid 600 thousand for the best Polish league defender and foreign player, Ivica Krizanac, and in addition, Macedonian national team debutant Dragan Cadikovski will join the team in February.
