The 35-year-old Ivan Zaytsev will soon sign a contract with Monza, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport. Monza re-entered the transfer market due to injuries. Osmani Juantorena has not yet recovered from shoulder surgery in the summer. There are also problems with the foreign players in the team: German Eric Röhrs, Finn Luka Marttila, and Korean Woo-Jin Lee.

This means that due to the foreign player limit, Monza will have to keep American middle blocker Taylor Averill on the bench. The team cannot afford this, as the other middle blocker Leandro Mosca recently suffered a shoulder injury.

Thus, Zaytsev will become one of the team's main outside hitters. He previously played in this role for Perugia (2017/18) and in recent seasons for Civitanova (2021–2024). Perhaps Zaytsev will spend his last season in indoor volleyball, after which he will focus on his beach volleyball career. He dreams of reaching the 2028 Olympics, and this year, along with Daniele Lupo, he became Italian champion.

Monza won the silver medal in the Italian championship last season. After that, three key players left the team - Stephen Maar (Piacenza), Ran Takahashi (Suntory), and Eric Loeppky (Civitanova), as well as blocker Gianluca Galassi (Piacenza). Brazilian setter Fernando Kreling and Canadian opposite Arthur Szwarc remained.

Monza opens the season on September 21 against Trentino in the Italian Supercup semifinals.

photos: gazetta.it, volleyball.it