Ex-Orenburg reserve Denis Makarov moves to Turkey's Kayserispor
27-year-old former midfielder of Orenburg (more precisely, its reserve team) Denis Makarov has moved from Moscow«s Dynamo to Turkish club Kayserispor. He has already been registered in his new team»s squad on the Turkish league«s website.
The footballer, valued at up to €7 million at his peak (now €1.8 million), never played a single match for Orenburg«s first team. A native of Tolyatti, he joined the reserve team of the »gas workers« in February 2017 via the Konoplev Academy (and a serious operation), as well as amateur football in Yakutia, but it was with the reserve team of the »feathers« that Makarov debuted in the youth championship and Second League (totaling 35 games, 9 goals, 11 warnings).
Oleg Veretennikov, a legendary footballer who worked in Orenburg«s structure at the time, believed in Denis and gave him chances (plus taught him to shoot on goal), and after Makarov »made his breakthrough« at Neftekhimik, where he was released by the »gas workers«, he reunited with him at Rubin Kazan.
Note that according to Transfermarkt, Orenburg received only €14,000 for the footballer, while Neftekhimik sold him to Rubin for €700,000 half a year later.
By the way, Makarov«s first goal in the Russian Premier League in 2020 was… against Orenburg.
«I»m glad to score my first goal, especially against Orenburg. I almost grew up there, I played my first youth championship match in Orenburg. Was there a revengeful mood against the team because I couldn«t break through there? Yes, it was hurtful when I wasn»t given a chance to play, but it«s okay,» Makarov was quoted by Sport24.ru.
After shining at Rubin, Denis moved to Moscow«s Dynamo for €7.5 million, and it was from here that he received an invitation to the Russian national team (for which, however, he never played). Makarov also scored against Orenburg in 2024 — already for Dynamo.
However, in 2025 after coaching changes (Marcel Lička — Valery Karpin — Roland Gusev) Denis lost his place in the starting lineup, and after another interview in which he directly said that he did not want to work with Gusev«s staff and declared disrespect towards himself, Makarov was sent to prepare for the second part of the season with Dynamo»s reserve team. And from there, he has now moved to Turkey.
Note that in this championship, there are several other footballers with Russian citizenship: for example, Georgy Dzhikiya at Antalyaspor, and German Onugha, whose teammate at Kayserispor has become Denis Makarov.
Also, let«s not forget about Fatih Karagümrük, from which Marcel Lička was fired, and Serik Belediyespor from the second league of Turkey, related to Tufan Sadygov, who sent Moscow region»s Khimki to the «heavenly league», and has not paid Orenburg for Lucas Vera.
A few months ago, this club was coached by Sergey Yuran, and it had players like Kirill Gotsuk, Ilya Berkovsky and Dmitry Tikhy, but even after their departure, Ilya Sadygov (son of the investor), Lev Skvortsov (player of the Kazakhstan national team) and the youth national team player of Belarus Alexander Martynov, who… was born in Orenburg, remain there.
As for Orenburg itself, there is currently a lull in new transfers (aside from the possible buyout of Ruslan Kul from Shinnik): as reported by 56.RU, the team has been joined by Alexis Cantero, John Palacios and Damian Puebla (plus on trial — Evgeny Zamerets and Tigran Avanesyan, Roman Eremenko did not make it to Turkey).
Those who left — Georgy Zotov, Anri Chichinadze, Atsamaz Revazov, Timofey Martynov, Vladislav Davydov, Vyacheslav Korobov, Daniil Antsiperov (the last three — from the reserve team) plus with the second squad preparing for the season are those on whom Ildar Akhmetzyanov does not count — Nikolay Sysuev, Vladislav Kamilov, Nikolay Koserik and Stepan Oganesyan.
