Zorn: We do not start from the names, we look at quality

The Lokomotive's Sport Director Tomas Zorn also answered some questions asked by the journalists at the press conference, which were dedicated to the start of the new season 22/23.

– Our work philosophy is simple like that: we do not start from the names, we look at quality. First of all it is about our players, but also about the people we accept in the coaching staff, and the club staff. Our quality is above everything. Therefore, every day the name must be earned and proven. We cannot make our choice, relying solely on some kind of history in the career. We talked with Josef a lot and for a long time. We gave him a task for the analysis of our team. And when we were looking for a head coach, he watched several of our matches and expressed his opinion. And we agreed on how we want to play football, and what needs to be improved on the team. Marvin, of course, remains on the coaching staff, he is young, novice coach. It is clear that he is an important part of our coaching staff. But Josef is our head coach.

Concerning Barinov. I would like to add my comment to this situation, too. First of all, I would like to clarify, since there is a lot of information in the media. Dmitry has a contract until June 2024, so now we have no fear that he can leave next year for free. Secondly, I see this as my task, the task of the Sport Director: we must protect our player, because Dmitry Barinov is the team leader and our key player. We didn't even consider his leaving this summer. We will be very grateful if the rumors stop being spread. These rumors does not help at all and does not make the preparation to the new season easier. We talked to Dmitry and he is in a very serious mood for this season with FC Lokomotiv. So there is no need to pay attention to these rumors.

Zhemaletdinov's injury? We hope that Rifat will return in the second half of the championship. After the operation, everything seems to look very good. We are not going to take the «ten» to replace Rifat, because Zhemaletdinov is a very valuable player for us.

– A lot of people, who were connected to FC Lokomotiv in the past, now condemn the club for excessive so called Germanisation. What can you answer them?
– Probably, first of all you are talking about the words of Yuri Semin? Actually he has the right to say whatever he wants to. This is a legend of our club, an important person for the history of FC Lokomotiv. He has achieved a lot. Therefore, only the greatest respect comes from us to him.
Concerning this Germanization and foreigners in the club: we have only seven legionnaires in the main team. I do not think that it is too much. This is even less than we could have. Yes, now we have Germans, Austrians in the coaching staff. If we count all the people who work for us with our main team, then we have less than ten foreigners. And Alberto, for example, he has been working at the club for seven years. All the rest, these are almost 200 employees of our club, they are Russians. I see no particular reason to say such a thing as a Germanization right now. We do not have to many foregn employees. On the contrary, we have a lot of highly qualified Russians, whom we trust, on whom the whole club stands. I do not think that the club stands with help only six foreigners who work in the coaching staff. In addition, we have Zaur Khapov. He is on the coaching staff. We have for example a large and good medical staff, and they are also Russians. For example, our Physiotherapists, the same Sergei Alekseev. We are pleased to invite Yuri Semin to our first home match. Looking forward to seeing you!

The full version of this event is available on the Lokomotiv's YouTube channel at the link below.