Two footballers from Ghana play in the Russian Premier League: Mohammed Rabiu and Abdul Aziz Tetteh. Abdul Aziz Tetteh is a defensive midfielder in Dinamo Moscow and Mohammed Rabiu plays for Anzhi Makhachkala. Betonmobile.ru observes their careers in Russia.
Mohammed Rabiu: Anzhi Makhachkala
Mohammed Rabiu was signed by Spanish club Gymnastic on January 2008 from Ghanaian football club Liberty. But in Gymnastic Rabiu had no playing time and after 6 months was loaned by another Spanish club Xerez CD. After Xerez he played Italian clubs Sampdoria and Udinese.
On August 2010 he made a deal with Evian Thonon Gaillard from France, where he became a noticeable part of the team for three seasons.
Scouts from Russian team Kuban Krasnodar noticed him in Evian and bought his transfer €2.6M. At that moment, Kuban was a strong club of the Russian Premier League.
The club took part in the Europa League and fought for top places in the Russian championship. But in the 2015/16 season, Kuban was relegated to the first division, and Rabiu moved to other club from Russia - Anzhi from Makhachkala.
Here Rabiu was seriously injured and didn’t play for two years due to the long rehabilitation. But Anzhi extended the contract with the midfielder and in 2018 he made his debut for the club from Makhachkala in the game against FC Ural.
Anzhi in recent years - an outsider of the Russian Premier League, but for Rabiu it was quite okay as he always had a place in the starting 11. Now the team goes on the 15th place in the Premier League and is fighting against relegation. Rabiu played 11 matches, receiving 5 yellow cards.
According to 1xBet there, Anzhi is the most likely candidate to leave the top league.
Anzhi represents Dagestan. Makhachkala is the capital of Dagestan, but the team hosts opponents in the city of Kaspiysk. The Anzhi Arena accommodates 31,000 fans, but on average this team is supported by 3,500 this season.
Abdul Aziz Tetteh: Dinamo Moscow
Abdul Aziz Tetteh has played the position of defensive midfielder in Dynamo Moscow since 2017. The Moscow club bought him from the Polish club Lech from Poznan for €800K. Last season Tette played only 7 matches, since he came to the club in January.
But this season, he regularly plays for Dynamo - 14 matches, 1 goal (was scored by the Ural) and 4 yellow cards, as well as one red card. Tetteh was suspension in the game with the club Arsenal of Tula in the first match of the season 2018/19, but his team did not lose that match.
Tetteh began his European career in Spain - in the Leganes and Montaneros. Next were the Greek Fokikos and Platanias, where Tetteh plays three good seasons in the Greek Super League.
Platanias bought Tetteh in Fokikos for €25K, and sold it in July 2015 for €300K in Polish Lech Poznan. In January 2018, Dinamo paid €800K for Tetteh.
Moscow Dinamo, as well as Anzhi - one of the outsiders of the championship of Russia. The team is in 12th place, but at any time it can descend into the relegation zone.
Dinamo is a historically big club in Russia, but in recent years the team has experienced financial problems.
Now Dinamo is coached by the legend of the club Dmitry Khokhlov, and along with Tetteh are such legionaries as the Portuguese Miguel Cardoso, the Lithuanian Fedor Chernych, Samba Saw from Mali, the Swede Holmen and the Bosnian defender Sunji?.