PSG eye Russian playmaker Alexeï Batrakov, a hybrid No 10 | OneFootball

PSG could move for Russian playmaker Alexeï Batrakov after Matveï Safonov, with the Lokomotiv Moscow talent drawing elite attention. The attacking midfielder is 20 and turns 21 on 9 June.

L'Équipe reports that Europe’s biggest clubs want him and that PSG, via sporting director Luis Campos, are leading the chase. Batrakov has 11 Russia caps and 3 goals.

Since his first Premier Liga start in May 2024 at 18, he has produced 45 goal contributions, 28 goals and 17 assists, in 62 matches. Ambidextrous, he dictates tempo and is clinical in the final third, often finishing one touch inside the box.

He assumed creative responsibility at Lokomotiv after Maksim Glushenkov left for Zenit in summer 2024. He typifies the new breed of hybrid No 10s, akin to Joao Felix, Florian Wirtz and Nico Paz, and follows creators like Andreï Archavine, Alan Dzagoev and Dmitriy Alenichev.

Talent-spotter Andrei Nagibin, who discovered him as a youngster, describes him as exceptionally intelligent, reading the game as if a computer were in his head. He wears 83 in tribute to Alexeï Mironov, now at Rostov, regarded as an older brother in the academy.

A move would not leave him isolated in France, with Safonov a national-team colleague and Khvitcha Kvaratskhelia having had a brief Lokomotiv stint in 2019. Under Luis Enrique, the Asturian coach, he could refine his game quickly.

Source: L'Équipe