Anatoly Meshcheryakov, the president of Lokomotiv Moscow, has confirmed that the club cannot afford to keep a hold of on loan midfielders Joao Mario and Grzegorz Krychowiak due to how the club have been financially impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic.
“We understand that very difficult times will come soon. We can no longer afford to buy Krychowiak and Joao Mario at the same time,” Meshcheryakov remarked in an interview with Sportbox.ru.
The Portuguese and Polish national team players will not be the only ones departing the Russian capital city club either with a number of other players as well as manager Yuri Semin all set to leave in the coming months.
“Eight players will leave the team. It will be necessary to build a new team. Make the most of internal reserves. The successful stage has ended, and we are very grateful that Yuri Semin was with us at this period of time.”
Joao Mario joined the Russian Premier League club on a season long loan this past Summer from Inter and as part of the deal Lokomotiv Moscow obtained an option to buy him outright for €18 million.
Whilst in Russia, the former Sporting CP midfielder has made 15 appearances across all competitions to date, in which he has scored one goal and tallied four assists.
