Russian club causes fury after promising new Turkish signing ‘lots of Natashas’

Russian Premier League giants CSKA Moscow have caused outrage online through a derogatory post which announced new Turkish signing Yusuf Yazici. 

Currently fourth in the table and eight points behind leaders Zenit, the Moscow club has signed Yazici on loan from French club Lille with an option to buy the attacking midfielder permanently if all goes well.

Through no fault of his own, however, life in Russia has gotten off to a rocky start for the Turkey international. 

When announcing his capture, the CSKA social media account posted a mock set of private messages between the player and his new employers. 

A number of them go unanswered by the 24-year-old, who is greeted and asked questions such as "where are you?" then told "we are ready to sign the contract". 

Once CSKA writes: "Yusuf, this is Russia, we have a lot of Natashas here," though, the Turk is shown as responding: "Five minutes, I'm on my way!"

CSKA deleted the post from social media.

Deleted not long after, the post caused outrage for appearing to cheapen local women.

The Russian Football News Twitter account called it "one of the crassest and [most] terrible transfer announcements you'll ever see.

"We criticize foreign media a lot for their portrayals of Russia, but when local clubs act like this, it's even worse," it added.

CSKA's TV editor-in-chief Katerina Kirilcheva released a statement that offered her "sincere apologies for the presentation video that was published by our media group."

"Initially we had another script for the video, but in the player's absence it was impossible to shoot the footage we needed," she claimed.

"Given the time constraints, I came up with another script that was unfortunate and inappropriate, and for many, also offensive. Once again, I apologize to our fans, especially ladies, and to Yusuf personally," Kirilcheva signed off. 

Amid calls for heads to roll, CSKA PR chief Sergey Aksenov told Sport-Express "such things should not appear on official sites.

"This is unacceptable. The people responsible for this incident have been suspended from work," he confirmed.

Earlier this season CSKA caused similar anger among fans when Russian TikTok sensation 'Bad Barbie' filmed herself gyrating on the team's pitch after being invited for a promotional shoot at their home stadium.

With Yazici set to join their squad, CSKA will look to put the latest debacle behind them when they take on Luxembourg team Dudelange in a friendly on Monday. 

The match is part of preparations for the re-start of the Russian Premier League, which returns from its winter break at the end of February.