- On one hand you should be satisfied with the most significant transfer in Dynamo history, but on the other hand you must be upset considering that you’ve lost the leading player. What kind of emotions dominate?
- Everyone, who knows me well, will tell you that I love football much more than money. Yarmolenko is a serious loss for Dynamo and it won’t be easy to replace him, but I can say something quite counterintuitive: now that Andriy has left the team can even grow stronger.
We have Viktor Tsyhankov, Derlis Gonzalez. These are players, who can already perform in this position. There are talented youngsters, who realize that if they approve themselves, they can join a big European club in future.
I promised Andriy: if we get a serious transfer offer, money won’t be my priority and we would try to help him make his dream come true. I think he’s a great player and I wish him good luck in new team.
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- The transfer of Yarmolenko can be compared with transfer of Andriy Shevchenko to AC Milan…
- I thought about that too after everything was settled. I remember that it was bitter to say goodbye to Shevchenko, but then we were all proud of him. One Andriy left Dynamo being young, another is more mature. We’ve discussed one interesting issue with Yarmolenko: after Shevchenko became a superstar, he returned to the native club to finish his career, so Yarmolenko can do the same.
Anyway, we’ve shaken hands and preserved mutual respect. Yarmolenko has always been a decent person.
- I’m sure you won’t name a figure, but they say Borussia offered Dynamo more than other clubs did even several years before. Is that true?
- That’s true. Borussia had been following Andriy for several years. I had negotiations with German side president, without any agents, which means Borussia intentions were really serious. Now we’ll all be supporting this team.
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- Still the fast departure of Yarmolenko to Germany looked like a complete impromptu…
- Big deals like silence. I and my German colleague didn’t need too much rush. As I’ve said, agents didn’t participate in negotiations. Transfer offer came to Dynamo.
- Now you have three wingers – Gonzalez, Tsyhankov and Husiev. Does this mean you’re going to sing someone before the transfer window closes?
- If Yarmolenko left a month earlier, we would have signed some experienced player, but I don’t think we should make rash decisions and try to replace the leader too quickly.
Moreover, I’ve discussed this issue with our head coach. He didn’t insist on any enforcement for the team. Olexandr Khatskevych just said that Andriy deserves this transfer.
We won’t hurry. We’ll keep working systematically on transfer market and if we still need some enforcement in winter, will find it. We also have talented youngsters: Lednev, Kravchenko… Why don’t we give them a chance?
Our policy is Ukrainization of the lineup. We place our bet on DynamoAcademy trainees.
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- Who’ll get the captain’s armband now?
- It’s up to Khatskevych and the team. We have Vida, Harmash, Sydorchuk, Khacheridi and Husiev, for example.
- Speaking about Vida, whose contract expires soon, you recently mentioned that he’s going to stay in Kyiv till winter…
- We’ve discussed conditions of new contact we can offer Domagoj with him, but apparently there’re clubs that offer him more money. I’m not judging him. It’s okay for 29-year-old player to aim to earn more money, besides he served us faithfully for four years.
If some club wants to sign him in September, we can discuss that. If that doesn’t happen, Vida will decide what to do in winter…
Dmytro ILCHENKO, Sport-Express in Ukraine
