Superleague A high-fliers Ural-Great Perm are hopeful of clinching the signing of Russian international centre Fedor Likholitov in the coming days.

Ural-Great have been in contact with the 23-year-old, who is currently with Greek side Aris, and executive director Pavel Lyakh is confident of a deal being reached sooner rather than later.

"I can't say that the deal is done. It's about to be decided. I hope that everything will come out all right and our new player can be fielded in the nearest Superleague game,” Lyakh told Sport Express.

		Likholitov shined for Russia during Eurobasket 2003

Ural-Great are second in the Superleague A and play leaders CSKA Moscow in a top-of-the-table clash on Christmas Day in Perm.

They are also flying high in Group C with eight wins and just two defeats.

Likholitov played an integral part for Russia as they beat then-reigning World and European Champions Serbia & Montenegro on the opening day of this summer’s Eurobasket in Sweden.

Although NBA superstar Andrei Kirilenko top-scored with 29 points in the 95-80 victory, Likholitov was the real hero after scoring 13 of his 14 points in the second half, including a run of seven straight that knocked the stuffing out of Serbia & Montenegro.

Likholitov continued to shine for Russia in the rest of the tournament even though they could only finish eighth overall.

Another move that could be finalised before Christmas is the appointment of Russian Youth Team head coach Gennadi Selikhov as assistant to Vladimir Rodionov at Avtodor Saratov.

Rodionov, who is also the president at Avtodor, took over the reins following the resignation of Croatian coach Neven Spahija.

Selikhov is no stranger to Avtodor having twice before worked at the club, including leading them to a fourth-placed finish in the league in 2002.

He is likely to start his new job on Sunday when Avtodor play host to BK Khimki.

One player who is certain to be absent from this weekend’s Superleague clashes is Spartak St Petersburg guard Mantas Ignatavicius.

The coaching staff at Spartak were not satisfied with the Lithuanian’s performances in recent games and have released him from his contract, the Spartak official website confirmed.