Qatar is waiting for ‘papers’ and not vice versa: why Rubin doesn’t field Lestienne

Rubin is taking the lead

Interestingly, but a detailed search of similar stories in the club football on the Internet did not yield fruits. Undoubtedly, sometimes a club tries out a player without signing a contract with him. There is a pile of cases when a player who signed a contract is not fielded for a season. But it has never happened that a football player who was purchased for €10m as a clear strengthening the squad has not been fielded for several months. So, this story is a new thing in the Kazan football management.

Rubin is rather an open club. We have asked questions about the delay in Maxime Lestienne's debut in the championships many times. The answer of our interlocutors in different variations looked the following way (Gracia was the last person to answer the question): 'We are waiting for papers from the previous club'.

The answer in different variations looked the following way: 'We are waiting for papers from the previous club'. Photo: Maksim Platonov

Indeed, the 'paper' is waited for but from Kazan

As Realnoe Vremya found out, indeed, the 'paper' is waited for. But it is expected from Rubin. Our source told the Qatari club Al-Arabi who owns the player is waiting for a bank guarantee on the transfer payment. The thing is that the €10m transfer payment is paid by installments. And there was a stall in Rubin's bank guarantee to the Qatari club. Unfortunately, we did not know what stall was meant because the club refused to comment the situation with Lestienne.

Many questions arise in this story. For example, why did this luck happen to the Belgian, not to Rochina or Jonathas? They joined the club much later than Maxime. Nevertheless, the situation has reached the point when Lestienne missed an open training of the club before the match with Spartak. Moreover, it is obvious the left wing of Rubin is getting worse now. 'Not ready' Akhmetov occupied this position in the two matches for a reason. He literally disappeared on the pitch in the two matches. So, Lestienne is vitally important for Rubin. He can score, pass and dribble. Just remember his goal scored into West Ham's post in pre-seasonal matches.

It should be reminded the 24-year-old Belgian signed a 4-year contract with the Kazan club. In the last season, Lestienne played 14 matches at PSV (on loan terms), scored one goal and made seven assists. What is more, the left inside scored two goals in the Champions League.

Lestienne was just an investment for the Arabs

Generally speaking, the transfer of Lestienne is hidden behind a cloak because the Italian Milano was interested in the prospective player. However, it all ended with a strange transfer to the Qatari Al-Arabi. According to Transfermarkt, the Arabs paid €10m for Maxime.

Later it became known it was rather business than football for the Qataris. 'We did not sign a contract with Al-Arabi to play and stay there for five years. We are extremely ambitious for this,' the Belgian's agent Mikkel Beck told. 'We want Maxime to play at a high level, while Al-Arabi wants to make as big profit as possible. There is nothing illogical – it is a new business model.'

All in all, this 'business model' led Lestienne to Kazan, and the Qatari club sold him to Rubin for the same amount of money it purchased him. We can only wait for Maxime to be given a chance to make his debut for the Stones in order to reload his career after a tragic death of his parents. All mass media resources wrote about it. And we won't repeat it.

Personally, I don't understand the degree of guilt of the Kazan club management in this story. We would like to see a more order in Rubin's transfer affairs. As hard as it might be to deal with Qatari clubs, the player should have made his debut in the first team in the first round. The sports staff of Realnoe Vremya will manage to get all answers about Lestienne in the Russian Premier League first-hand – from the Stones.