Adam Chabukiani has broken the Bradford Park Avenue transfer record yet again with the signing of Jurij Dinaburskij from Zenit St. Petersburg.
Just as the hype around the fee of Alfred Duncan begins to die down, Bradford PA have pulled another fantastic player out of the bag as Russian international Dinaburskij joins the club for £36.5M.
The transfer fee takes Avenue's summer spending up to £56million as this fee adds onto the combined fees paid out for Richard Webb, Silvan Widmer, Cláudio and Howard Elliott so far this summer.
Dinaburskij has been a one-club man until now after growing up in the Zenit academy from the age of nine years old. The 23-year-old burst onto the Russian top-flight stage with a lethal goalscoring ability, bagging eleven goals in 17 league games for Zenit when he was just 18 years old.
The next season, Dinaburskij scored four goals in as many games but found himself shunned out on loan surprisingly. He spent a season-long loan at Belgian giants RSC Anderlecht and startled pundits in the nation with 19 goals in 27 games.
His most successful season was the 2019/2020 campaign where he outscored his league appearances with 24 goals in 22 matches.
In his past two seasons Dinaburskij has scored a combined total of 42 goals in 50 matches for Zenit in all competitions. This means his overall career record is 92 goals in 114 matches.
That isn't to say that his international record is bad either, with the forward scoring 34 goals in 43 caps for his native Russia. The pacey 6'2" finisher is quickly building a reputation as one of Europe's hottest prospects with some Russian pundits suggesting that the £36M Bradford have paid for the striker a 'steal'.
Adam Chabukiani: I am a believer that Jurij [Dinaburskij] is one of the best players in the world without a shadow of a doubt. I'm sure that the fee that the media are putting on the player will be long forgotten once he gets on the pitch for us. His record for Russia, Zenit and his loan spell at Anderlecht speaks for itself with this guy and I am absolutely delighted that we have him on board.
Dinaburskij - a self-proclaimed Manchester United supporter - will don the number nine shirt which was saved for him when the squad numbers were handed out. The 23-year-old signed a four-year deal with Bradford until 2026 and will be earning in the area of £95,000 per week.
