Alenichev back at Spartak

Fee of €750,000
Alenichev, who started his career at FC Lokomotiv Moskva before spending four years at Spartak, signed the deal yesterday and had his first training session with coach Nevio Scala and his new team-mates. He had a year remaining on his Porto contract and joins for a €750,000 fee.

'Dream move'
"I was offered more a lucrative deal than with Porto," said the Russian international. "But more importantly I wanted to get back to Spartak and it's a dream come true." Alenichev won four league titles and one Russian Cup with Spartak between 1994 and 1998, and was Russian Footballer of the Year in 1997.

Scored in finals
In 1998, he joined AS Roma in a deal worth more than €5m. After Roma he had a short spell at AC Perugia, before subsequently moving on to Porto, for whom he scored in both the 2003 UEFA Cup final and last season's UEFA Champions League final victories.

Ineligible for Villarreal
He was a member of Russia's squad at UEFA EURO 2004™ and has played 53 times for his country, scoring six times. Alenichev will not be eligible for this Saturday's UEFA Intertoto Cup third round second-leg match against Villarreal CF but could be registered to play in the semi-final, should Spartak progress.

Other additions
The Russian side lost the first leg 1-0 in Spain last weekend and welcome Villarreal to the Luzhniki for the return on Saturday. Spartak, who are in the bottom half of the Premier-Liga table, have already signed FK Crvena Zvezda captain Nemanja Vidic and Czech Republic defender Martin Jiránek this summer.