Journalist Ivan Karpov reported in his Telegram channel that PAOK proposed to Zenit an exchange of Russian forward Fyodor Chalov for a defender from the blue-white-sky blues. The PAOK press service stated that it is not true that PAOK proposed to Zenit to exchange Chalov for Erakovic. Erakovic, a 24-year-old Serbian international defender with 18 caps for his country, joined Zenit from Crvena Zvezda in July 2023 for a reported €8.0 million fee and has a contract until 2027. In the current 2025/2026 season, he has made 12 appearances in the Premier Liga. His current market value is estimated by Transfermarkt at €7.50m, and other clubs recently linked to him include Beşiktaş and Crvena Zvezda.