[Sport]The wayward Kokorin, at Spartak Moscow

[SougarLord]

Alexander Kokorin has signed a three-season contract (plus an optional one) with Spartak Moscow. The controversial Russian striker, who now ended up in jail a year ago after brutally assaulting two officials and a driver, wants to feel important again, the Moscow club itself has announced.

 

“Spartak Moscow has signed a long-term contract with Alexander Kokorin of 3 + 1 (three years plus one optional year). The 29-year-old forward joins our club as a free agent, ”Spartak writes on his website, the most successful team in Russia since the fall of the USSR, with ten championships won.

 

"I want to be in good shape, help the team as much as possible and regain the Spartak that everyone loves: attacking, efficient and victorious," said Kokorin, who participated in the 2014 World Cup and two Euros (2012 and 2016).

 

After leaving prison he signed for Zenith and was transferred to Sochi

Alexander Kokorin was jailed in October 2018 along with his brother and midfielder Pavel Mamaev after assaulting a television presenter's driver on the street and then, a few hours later, two senior officials in a cafe. After being released from prison in September 2019, Kokorin signed a one-year contract with Zenith Saint Petersburg, before being sent a loan to Sochi, with which he scored seven goals in ten league matches.

 

The striker has come to a struggling club since his last title in 2017, and he will be deprived of Europe next season after a disappointing seventh place (out of 16) in the league.

 

Kokorin, who also played for the Moscow Dynamo and Zenith, has been called up 48 times with the Russian national team, with 12 goals scored, but has not been called up since November 2017.

 

For the first day of the new season of the Russian Premier League, which begins next weekend, Kokorin will have a chance to shine against Sochi, his former club.