Zenit St. Petersburg have invited the captain of the Kazakhstan national team, Bauyrzhan Islamkhan, on trial at their training camp in Qatar. The 26-year-old is already with his potential new teammates at the Aspire Academy base and could feature in Tuesday’s friendly against Al-Uwaynah.

Islamkhan is currently a free agent after leaving Kairat Almaty - whom Zenit will face on 17 February in Antalya - after his contract expired on 1 January this year. Under the proposed ruling regarding players from Eurasian Economic Union countries, Islamkhan would not count as a foreigner in the Russian Premier League.

The attacking midfielder - who spent a few months at Kuban Krasnodar as a 20-year-old, and practised taekwondo as a teenager - has twice been named the best player in Kazakhstan and has won the national cup four times. In 223 matches for Kairat, he scored 64 goals and made 61 assists, while for his country he has scored three goals in 44 caps.