Ukrainian defender turns down transfer offer to an elite French club as it features a Russian

Ukraine national team defender Ilia Zabarnyi refused to move from English side Bournemouth to French club Paris Saint-Germain. The Ukrainian categorically rejected the offer due to the fact that it features Russian goalkeeper Matvey Safonov.

L'Equipe journalist Loïc Tanzi spoke about this during the 100% PSG la tribune podcast on the France Bleu platform, le10sport.com reports. According to the source, Zabarnyi is ready to consider PSG's offer only if it ditches the Russian representative.

"Zabarnyi is an outstanding player, but he is Ukrainian. And there’s a Russian in the squad. He said, 'If Safonov stays in the team, I won’t join. It's not so much that he's Russian, but I'm a central defender, and he is a goalkeeper, we've got two positions that are extremely interconnected on the pitch, so if ever we have a problem, I don't want it to result in one regarding our nationalities, which will disappoint the whole squad'," Tanzi said.

Earlier, it became known that Real Madrid expressed serious interest in Zabarnyi too, as it is ready to pay more than 50 million euros for the Ukrainian.

Ilia has played all 20 Premier League matches for Bournemouth this season and has never been substituted. He is one of nine players in the league who boast full games in a season.

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