Translation by Brit Sørensen of the Danish news story “Dzhamal rydder op i Superligaen” by Kim Robin Graahede brought by Århus Stiftstidende on 21.10.2015

Everyone is smiling. Dzhamaldin Khodzhaniiazov looks like a man with a future in the Danish Superliga team AGF’s start-11, and even though it was a bit of a struggle for the AGF sporting director to land a deal that would lure the young Russian to Aarhus (the second-largest city of Denmark), it may very well be worth the effort in the end. In terms of both results and finances.

Dzhamaldin Khodzhaniiazov comes walking down Pitch 1 on Fredensvang, the AGF training grounds. He is taking it easy, legs are tired.

The team’s Polish goalkeeper coach spots him and mischievously shouts: “Oh Dzhamal…the new Franco Baresi.”

The AGF player shrugs and shakes his head. He does not know who Franco Baresi is. Never heard of him. Was born the year before the legendary Italian defender retired at the age of 37.

And he also does not quite understand Danish yet, Khodzhaniiazov, 19 year-old Turkman holding a Russian passport. He laughs and keeps walking. Legs are tired, having played for 90 minutes in the white AGF jersey the day before.

A man of the future. And the present.

He was spotted by the AGF sporting director during a training tournament for a number of Eastern European U21 national teams in St. Petersburg in January, landed in Aarhus in the beginning of September – and on Sunday afternoon, Dzhamaldin Khodzhaniiazov made his home debut, and a very successful one, in the white jersey, as he was in the start-11 as a central defender when AGF took on FC Nordsjælland in the Superliga.

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Does not come as a surprise

6,632 spectators witnessed AGF defeat FC Nordsjælland by 3-0, and the young man was calm and uncompromising on the pitch. Next to Croatian defender Josip Elez.

“I find it very easy to play with him. We hadn’t played together before this game, so we didn’t quite know how it would work out. But I think it went surprisingly well. He’s a wise player who makes good decisions and doesn’t take any big chances, and even though he sometimes tried to direct the defense in Russian, we communicated well on the pitch. You know, with English and gestures,” 21 year-old Elez says with a smile on his face.

The game against FC Nordsjælland was merely the third game for Dzhamaldin Khodzhaniiazov in AGF. He was sent on the pitch when the two teams previously met in Nordsjælland, he was in the start-11 in a cup game against Silkeborg, and now he is also among the best 11 in a Superliga game.

“It doesn’t really come as a surprise to us, even though you can never be sure what kind of character you get when you acquire such a young foreign player for the team. In fact, we already considered using him in the start-11 against FC Midtjylland (defending Danish champions) two weeks ago, but then he got injured during training the day before the game. He has only been here for a short period of time, and we obviously wanted to wait a bit before letting him play, but when he’s in the start-11 already, it’s simply a natural consequence. Because he’s a really good player,” says head coach Morten Wieghorst.

“He’s very mature of his age and his potential is enormous. I would go as far as to say that it’s quite exceptional to have a young player of this standard in a club like AGF. He did come from a huge club in Russia, and they wanted to keep him there, and he also played many international games for his country. So we should give lots of credit to Jens T. Andersson (AGF sporting director, red.) for signing him. It’s because of his great work that Dzhamaldin Khodzhaniiazov is now playing in AGF.

Many clubs eager to sign Dzhamal

And it did indeed take some hard work for the sporting director to succeed in talking the young Russian into moving to Aarhus. Already back in January, Jens T. Andersson tried to make a deal with Dzhamaldin Khodzhaniiazov’s employer at the time, the grand Russian club Zenit Skt. Petersburg. Without any luck. Zenit wanted to prolong its contract with the then 18 year-old defender. Moreover, a number of other big European clubs were interested.

But Andersson would not let go, so this spring he went to Sweden and saw Khodzhaniiazov play an U19 national game, new negotiations were initiated, and on the very last day of the summer transfer window, he finally managed to get the young talent’s signature on a contract.

At the end of the day, it was Dzhamaldin Khodzhaniiazov’s own decision.

“He had lots of opportunities, also to make a lot more money, but he chose to give priority to his further development and to get more playing experience on the pitch. I also think that the fact that we kept our interest in him over a longer period of time was somewhat of a sign to him that we were serious about him. So he took a step that you don’t often see among young Russian players. He made the change to AGF, because he felt that it was the right step for him. And we’re very happy he did,” says the Swedish sporting director.

Dzhamaldin Khodzhaniiazov signed a three-year deal with AGF. However, as Zenit Skt. Petersburg were not very happy to see “Dzhamal” go, they constructed a special clause in the contract with a buy-back option at a so-called “fixed price”, in case they want him back. Jens T. Andersson does not want to reveal the fixed price, but AGF will most possibly receive a rather decent amount of money, should Zenit wish to buy him back within the next three years.

Jens T. Andersson would like to make it clear that he signed Dzhamaldin Khodzhaniiazov with the purpose of making him part of the start-11 and, hence, not as a development project. That is how it works for a player who has played in Zenit for many years where he trained side-by-side with major international players like the Brazilian player “Hulk”.

“He’s fast, strong in one-on-one situations, and then he’s a left-foot, which is a very good

trait for a centre-back. He also has a great character and a very professional approach, because he has already been living and playing away from home for many years, so he’s used to taking care of himself. That helped him get settled here very quickly,” Andersson says.

Mistakes will be made

And even though his first match in the start-11 was a great success for Dzhamaldin Khodzhaniiazov, and he received lots of praise from teammates and coaches afterwards, there will be bumps on the road, according to head coach Wieghorst.

“He’s young, we must not forget that, so he will make mistakes. And that’s ok, because he will learn from those mistakes, and he plays for a club now in which he has everyone’s full support,” Wieghorst says.

Whether or not he has already established himself in one of the two centre-back positions remain unknown, but Josip Elez sure feels confident about the situation if he has.

“I’ve played with several different players in that position during this season, and they all have some strengths and weaknesses. Myself included. I have no preference as to play with one rather than someone else, but it was a good experience for me to play with Dzhamaldin Khodzhaniiazov, because he doesn’t seem like he’s 19 years old. So maybe we will be starting together in the next match? That’s up to the coach to decide,” Elez responds.

A Russian has made his entrance in Aarhus. It does not actually matter whether or not he knows who this Baresi guy is.

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