Wilfredo Leon says that he will remain with Zenit Kazan next season, planning to continue to honor his contract for at least another year. That news comes after libero Teodor Salparov left the club following the Champions League final.
Leon was named the Best Outside Spiker of the Champions League won by his side last weekend in Rome – good news for the young superstar.
The bad news came on Thursday, however, when Leon was not one of the 13 players approved for nationality changes by FIVB. He has already received his Polish citizenship, and has been attempting to change his sporting nationality since 2013, but has been by-and-large blocked by the Cuban Federation, with whom he won a silver medal at the 2010 World Championships.
In the interview, Leon said that “from what I know, the ball is in the court of the world federation, and I have nothing I can do. I can only wait for the solution of the case.”
In the interview, conducted before the announcement by the FIVB, Leon said that he believes that the FIVB is able to take steps to work around Cuba’s block, and that the Polish federation says that “everything is going in the right direction.”
Leon says that he isn’t going to play in Qatar this summer – something done by many pros after their primary club seasons finish. “I need to relax and do decent research to see what physical condition my body is in,” Leon said. He missed two weeks of the Russian season after suffering an ankle injury in November.
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