By Andrew Warshaw
September 26 – Russian national team captain Igor Denisov and Aleksandr Kerzhakov are expected to return to Zenit St Petersburg first team this coming weekend after a spat over wages saw them dropped to the reserves, according to club sources.
Denisov (pictured top, left) had lashed out at the extravagant salaries paid to new signings Hulk and Axel Witsel and questioned whether the new acquisitions, bought for a joint €100 million (£80 million/$130 million) in the summer, deserved to earn triple the salaries of some other players at Zenit.
Hulk reportedly signed a €6.5 million (£5.1 million/$8.4 million) annual contract after joining from Porto, while former Benfica midfielder Witsel was awarded just under half that amount.
“The club and Denisov will sit down for talks and will settle everything quickly, and the conflict will be resolved by the end of this week,” said the source adding both Denisov and Kerzhakov (pictured top, right) should be back for Saturday’s (September 29) Russian Premier League match against Lokomotiv Moscow.
Between them, Kerzhakov, 29, and Denisov, 28, have made almost 500 appearances for Zenit since both broke into the first team in 2001.
Kerzhakov has 66 international caps, while Denisov, who has 32, was made skipper by new national team coach Fabio Capello last month.
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