In July 2024 Ilya Porokhov found himself in a position half the players in the First League dream about: Baltika, Torpedo, Alania and Ural were all fighting for him.

Khimki, who owned him at the time, stalled on the loan deal with Yekaterinburg — the offer from Kaliningrad was better for the Moscow-region club. But Ural, the agent and the player himself had already agreed everything between themselves. Porokhov left for Yekaterinburg.

Two years later he signed a contract with Baltika until 10 June 2029.

Between those two points: 11 matches and one goal for Ural, half a season at Sokol, then a move to Shinnik. And one almost mocking episode: on 26 October 2024 he came on in the second half against Baltika, played about half an hour and left the pitch on the losing side, 1:2.

A caveat: the details of the summer 2024 haggling come from Sergei Ilyov, not from official club statements.

After Talalaev left, he became surplus

Judging by the chronology, it wasn't about Porokhov's form.

In spring 2024 he told Tyumenskaya Arena that he'd spoken to Talalaev personally: the coach said he'd like to see him in the team, that he liked Ilya's pace and that he suited Khimki's style.

Porokhov explained his choice at the same time. Tyumen had offered a new contract in the winter, but the Khimki option was very good — they thought it all over and signed with the Moscow-region club. He seems to make decisions about his career pretty ruthlessly.

He signed his Khimki contract on 3 June 2024. Talalaev left the club on 20 June; Frank Artiga arrived on the 28th.

Porokhov never got to play a single official match for Khimki under Talalaev.

According to Sergei Ilyov, after the club parted with the coach Porokhov landed on the list of players the new Khimki project was ready to get rid of — precisely because he'd been signed on Talalaev's initiative.

A detail about where he'd ended up. On 19 February 2025 the RFU ordered Khimki to settle its debt to Tyumen's Football-Hockey club for Porokhov's training and banned the club from registering new players. In April a ruling on the third payment followed.

Two people on Baltika's staff know him

Talalaev isn't the only one in the know.

On 15 June 2026 Artyom Buloichik returned to Baltika's staff — he'd already worked in Kaliningrad from June 2022 to June 2024 under Sergei Ignashevich: promotion to the RPL, the Russian Cup final.

Between his two Kaliningrad spells he spent a year and a half in Yaroslavl. From April 2025 to June 2026 Buloichik was in charge of Shinnik; in 2025/26 the team finished eighth in the First League.

Porokhov's entire first season at Shinnik was under his management.

And here's the most curious detail of the transfer. Under Buloichik Porokhov wasn't a nailed-on starter: 12 starts in 25 matches and 13 appearances off the bench. He only stepped up after the Belarusian left — all nine matches of the new season from the first minute.

In other words, Baltika is signing a forward whose rotation-player version its own coach saw every day in training. Perhaps Buloichik's recommendation played a part here too. Or perhaps there simply wasn't room for Porokhov in his system — the only way to check is to see how the player gets used.

A route through seven clubs

Porokhov is 25, born 11 June 2001. Height 176 cm. Weight: 70 kg according to the RPL app, 68 kg according to Sportbox.

A Rubin academy product. His adult football began at Smena and Zvezda Perm. In summer 2022 he moved to Tyumen — and that's where he got noticed: in the 2023/24 First League he had 29 matches, 9 goals and 4 assists.

There's confusion over his position. In the RPL app he's a midfielder wearing number 11, Sportbox lists him as a forward, and Baltika called him a forward on his arrival. My interpretation: a mobile attacking player capable of playing as a central striker, a second forward or on the flank.

Three conclusions from the RUSTAT numbers

RUSTAT data as of 11 September 2026.

First: he has stopped being a substitute. Nine matches — nine starts. That said, all nine times he was taken off during the game.

Second: Porokhov isn't getting more chances. 0.48 goals per 90 minutes against 0.34 looks like a leap. But his xG per 90 has barely changed — 0.37 against 0.34. His conversion has even dipped slightly: 27% against 29%.

What's changed is the finishing. RUSTAT shows its accuracy metric rising from 48% to 70%; that's the service's internal indicator and isn't calculated directly from the ratio of shots on target to all shots.

The team hasn't started putting him in killer positions. He has become noticeably more likely to end an attack with an accurate shot.

Third: he has got smarter in his dribbling. Porokhov goes for a take-on less often — 1.9 attempts per 90 minutes against 2.7 a year ago. But his success rate has risen from 28% to 58%. Turnovers have fallen from 8.8 per 90 to 7.0. A rare type of progress: forwards usually grow in volume, but here it's selectivity that has grown.

The goals, meanwhile, are ordinary: 3 goals from 2.29 xG, no crazy overperformance. He scored against Sochi, Neftekhimik and Volga.

What to do about 25% in duels

The most unpleasant number in the profile: 19 duels won out of 75. A year earlier — 38 out of 174, i.e. 22%.

It seems this is no longer the fluke of one stretch, but a feature of the profile.

At 176 cm Porokhov is not the man Latyshonok should be launching a long ball towards with a "well, you sort it out up there". Nor is he the one who'll hold the ball up under pressure from a centre-back while the team catches up.

Crossing is clearly not among his strengths: 0 accurate out of 8 now, 2 out of 6 a year ago. Don't look for a classic winger who runs to the byline and pumps balls into the box here.

But a burst in behind, a counter-attack, a run between the full-back and the centre-back — that is exactly his job.

Where he fits

He doesn't like to dwell on the ball. Get free, receive, quickly move it on or finish.

And that looks like what we see in Kaliningrad. Win it back, two or three passes, free zone — run. In a brand of football where possession is sometimes treated as an optional extra service, a player like this makes sense.

The main thing is not to confuse him with Golenkov. They're different strikers. Golenkov can battle, hold the ball up, take contact. Porokhov should exploit the space that battle creates.

That's why the pairing of the two looks the most interesting: Golenkov pulls the defenders in, Porokhov attacks the vacated zone. And when Baltika is leading and the opponent opens up — bring on the player whose pace Talalaev was already noting back in 2024.

The main risk isn't where it seems

Everyone's looking at the finishing: can Porokhov keep up his 70% on RUSTAT's internal metric?

But the main question is different. Will he even keep the same 0.37 xG per 90 minutes after moving up a level?

Because if in the RPL that figure becomes 0.18 rather than 0.37, it no longer matters how well he hits the target. A forward who gets half as many chances can't be saved by shooting accuracy. And his xG will depend not only on his own runs, but on how often Baltika can deliver the ball into the zones Porokhov attacks best.

Plus the context: he's 25, and he has never established himself at the top level. In last season's First League — 4 goals in 25 matches.

I wouldn't expect a ready-made 10–12-goal man in the RPL. This isn't a sensational transfer but a deal of the "coach knows the player, understands his strengths and knows where to use them" type. The three-year contract says the same: the club is buying time, not a goal guarantee.

Two years ago the roads of Porokhov and Baltika parted. Now they have finally come together — in the Premier League.

Would you start Porokhov alongside Golenkov from the first minute, or bring him on against a tired defence in the second half?