Both Captains of Team Melli , have joined Tractorsazi Tabriz, in the surprise transfer of the season.

While both have been playing in Europe and could have continued doing so, yet in a strange turn of event, they turned up in Tabriz with a lot of question marks on the motives of the move. Masoud Shojaei and Ashkan Dejagah, two well-known and influential players of the Iranian national team who participated in the 21st World Cup recently in Russia, reached peculiar decision to join Tractorsazi team.

Though it will be very good news for the Tabrizi team, it will raise questions about the reasons for the decision made by Shojaei and Dejagah and wheter it hase been either coordinated or orchestrated, especially since the two players have signed up to a three-year contract with Tractorsazi, which is questionable and ambiguous.

Shojaei and Dejagah have joined a team whose owner has been a tremendous support for Team Melli in recent years and has even provided the squad with a special chartered Jet for the squad travels.

The two captains were expected to join Foreign teams with better prospective after the World Cup. Or, even if they did not do well in the European teams, they could have easily continued to play in the neighboring countries League, in particular Qatar.

The main question is why Massoud Shojaei and Ashkan Dejagah have decided on the domestic league in the year leading up to the Asian Cup? The two joined the Tractorsazi while Queiroz always preferred and emphasized on the presence of players in international teams for greater readiness.

It is not clear if Shojaei and Dejagah, who have a close relationship with Queiroz – as national team captains – have consulted the Portuguese coach for their next season’s team selection?

It seems that reasons other than a simple choice in the transfer of Massoud Shojaee and Ashkan Dejagah have been influential.

Branco Ivankovic, who has won the Premier League for two consecutive seasons and has gained a lot of popularity among Persepolis fans, and even considered as a strong candidate to replace Queiroz  in the national team, now sees his opposition much stronger than before.

What’s clear is that Tractorsazi has built a strong team under John Toshack and will form a challenge to Persepolis and Esteghlal with the recruitment of Shojaei and Dejagah