Alexey Smertin

Infobox Football biography
playername = Alexey Smertin


fullname = Alexey Gennadyevich Smertin
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1975|5|1
cityofbirth = Barnaul, RSFSR
countryofbirth = Soviet Union
height = height|m=1.76
position = Midfielder
currentclub = Unattached
clubnumber =
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1992–1993
1994–1996
1997-1998
1999–2000
2000–2003
2003–2006
2003–2004
2005–2006
2006
2007–2008
clubs = Dinamo Barnaul Zarya Leninsk-Kuznetski
Uralan Elista Lokomotiv Moscow
Girondins Bordeaux Chelsea
→ Portsmouth (loan) → Charlton Athletic (loan) Dynamo Moscow Fulham
caps(goals) = 042 0(2) 124 (13)
049 0(3) 039 0(7)
085 0(2) 016 0(0)
026 0(0)
018 0(0) 022 0(0)
022 0(0)
nationalyears = 1998-2007
nationalteam = Russia
nationalcaps(goals) = 055 0(0)
pcupdate = May 3 2008
ntupdate = March 3 2007

Alexey Gennadyevich Smertin ( _ru. Алексей Смертин) (born May 1 1975 in Barnaul, USSR) is a Russian football player. He is currently a free agent having had his contract with Fulham terminated, and was a captain of the Russian national team. He is fairly versatile and is able to play in defence as well as midfield.

Club career

Early career

Smertin has previously played for Dinamo Barnaul, Zarya Leninsk-Kuznetski, Uralan Elista, Lokomotiv Moscow, and French team Girondins Bordeaux before moving on to Chelsea.

Chelsea

Claudio Ranieri brought Smertin to Chelsea from Bordeaux in August 2003 for £3.45m before loaning him out to Portsmouth for the 2003–04 season. After some impressive performances at Fratton Park, most notably in Pompey's 1–0 victory over Manchester United, Smertin returned to London. However, Ranieri had now been succeeded by José Mourinho, who had made his own midfield signing in compatriot Tiago Mendes, adding to a midfield that already boasted Frank Lampard, Claude Makélélé, Geremi, and Scott Parker. Smertin only played a bit-part role for the team in 2004–05 as Chelsea won the title.

He was ultimately deemed surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge and was loaned out to Charlton Athletic for the 2005–06 season. At Charlton, he was a starter and had some impressive performances. In January 2006, he was transferred to Dynamo Moscow, for a fee of £1 million. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/4757904.stm Smertin completes move to Moscow] BBC Sport Online, March 15 2006. Retrieved 14 October 2007. ] .

In an interview with the European Soccer Magazine in March 2006, Smertin insisted that he harboured no ill-feeling whatsoever towards Mourinho, and that he was grateful to have been able to participate in the celebrations at Stamford Bridge when Chelsea were crowned English Premier League champions. Smertin also insisted that his time in England was "a good experience", and that he now believes more firmly than before that the Premiership is the most challenging domestic competition in world football.

Dynamo Moscow

Smertin played a total of 22 games for Dynamo Moscow before being transfer listed, alongside several other newly-signed players, such as Maniche, Francisco Lima, Costinha and Giourkas Seitaridis in Andrey Kobelev's massive attempt at rebuilding the team for the new season.

Fulham

After Smertin's release from Moscow, Smertin signed for Fulham on a two and a half year deal that will see the player at the club until the summer of 2009. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/f/fulham/6303889.stm Fulham complete Smertin signing] BBC Sport Online, January 27 2006. Retrieved 14 October 2007.] He started most of the opening games of the 2007/08 season but the arrival of Danny Murphy on transfer deadline day has threatened his place in Fulham's midfield. His place in the side and his comeback attempt for the Russian National Team has been hampered by having an overcrowded midfield as well as injury problems. Simon Davies and Danny Murphy have caused a drop in his playing time. On 30th August 2008, Fulham manager Roy Hodgson informed Smertin that he was free to leave the club. As of 22:33 on September the first 2008, Smertin was a free agent, having cancelled his contract with immediate effect [ [http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/article20232.ece HODGSON TRIMS WAGE BILL] ] and had his contract terminated two days later.

International career

Smertin has been capped over 50 times for Russia, including the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004. He was made captain in June 2004. This past year Andrey Arshavin has taken over the duties as Russian Captain. There was speculation Alexey might return to the national team but that has died away since Smertin began to lose playing time at Fullham and Russia qualified for Euro 2008 with a young team on the last day of qualifying.

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=18214|name=Alexey Smertin