Dinamo Samarkand have completed the signing of Armenia international midfielder Tigran Avanesyan from Russian side Arsenal Tula.
The first half of 2026 saw Avanesyan spend time on loan at Russian Premier League side Orenburg, making four league appearances. Earlier in his career, he represented Tambov, Tekstilshchik Ivanovo, Baltika Kaliningrad and Arsenal Tula.
Born in Tashkent in 2002, Avanesyan moved to Kaliningrad with his family at the age of two. He progressed through Baltika’s academy before spending six years at CSKA Moscow, where he captained both the club’s youth side and Russia’s Under-17 team.
He represented Russia at the 2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship and captained the side against Hungary. Although he trained regularly with CSKA’s first team, he never made a senior competitive appearance.
In an October 2021 interview with EurasiaFootball writer Alexander Troitsky for Sportbox.ru, Avanesyan revealed he had never been contacted by the Uzbekistan national team despite being born in Tashkent.
“I would hardly have seriously considered such an offer. With all due respect to Uzbekistan. Besides, people in Armenia wouldn’t understand me,” he said, adding that his priority at the time was representing Russia.
That changed three years later. After switching allegiance to Armenia, he made his senior international debut against Czechia in March 2024 and has remained part of the national team setup since.
The Armenian is Dinamo Samarkand’s sixth foreign signing of the summer as the club continues its rebuild following financial difficulties. He joins Marko Stanojević, Mihail Ștefan, Haris Hajdarević, Amadou Doumbouya and Artem Radaev, while Raul Djeparov has also arrived on loan from Bunyodkor.
The squad overhaul follows the appointment of acting general director Anvar Nosirov at the end of June. Since then, Vadim Abramov’s side have beaten both Qizilqum and Surkhon 2-1.
Dinamo sit 11th in the table with 17 points from 13 matches, having recorded their best league finish in 25 years by placing fourth last season.