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Although the Russian Premier League season ended just a couple of days ago, the Saint Petersburg club wasted no time and already at the beginning of this week acquired Russian national team and Tomsk striker Pavel Pogrebnyak and signed a long-term contract with Dutchman Fernando Ricksen, who previously belonged to Glasgow Rangers.
The 23-year-old player, who started his career at Moscow's Spartak club and has previously played for Khimki and Yaroslavl's Shinnik, this season was a teammate of Lithuanian Andrius Skerla at Tom and, representing a mid-table team of the Russian championship, scored 13 goals in 26 matches, sharing 3-5 places among the league's top scorers.
His performance caught the attention of the Russian national team coach Guus Hiddink, and the striker made his debut for the national team on August 16, scoring twice in 5 matches. In addition, Pogrebnyak was noticed by another Dutchman, Dick Advocaat, who invited the player to his Zenit team at the end of the season.
Finishing fourth in the league, Zenit also extended contracts for another year with Ukrainians 36-year-old Alexander Gorshkov and 31-year-old Alexander Spivak, as well as acquiring defender Fernando Ricksen from the Netherlands. The experienced 30-year-old player was loaned out to Zenit from his former team Glasgow Rangers, and after a successful performance in the Premier League, he signed a three-year contract with Zenit.
