Russian Premier League top scorer Seydou Doumbia wants a transfer to a team in England, Spain or Italy, he was quoted as saying Friday by Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport.
The Ivorian international scored 28 goals in 42 league games for CSKA Moscow in 2011-12, but the team failed to qualify for next season’s Champions League after a 3-1 defeat to Rubin Kazan on the last day of the season.
Asked if he was ready to move to Italy, Doumbia said: “Yes, more than ready. And I’d also be willing to go to Spain or to England, the top leagues. I’d certainly be taking a leap forward in my career.”
CSKA’s failure to qualify for the Champions League could be the decisive factor behind his desire to leave, he suggested.
“I want to play in the Champions League, that's the competition that fascinates me,” Doumbia said.
“I’m disappointed because CSKA did not qualify,” he added.
If he moves, Doumbia is keen to join a club that will be stable in the long term, he said.
“It’s useless to go to a club that is playing in the Champions League one year and not participating in European competition the next.”
Doumbia, 24, joined CSKA in 2010 from Young Boys Bern, where he was twice ranked top scorer in the Swiss league, after an earlier stint in Japan.
He has scored two goals in 19 appearances for the Ivory Coast, and featured largely as a substitute in the team’s run to the final of the 2012 African Cup of Nations.
