Dynamo Kyiv president Ihor Surkis commented on the signing of a new five-year contract by midfielder Mykola Shaparenko.
- Dynamo has signed a new contract with Mykola Shaparenko. What does this mean for the club and for you as president?
- First of all it means that Mykola is a person who wants to play football and wants to play for Dynamo. There were various rumors that he didn’t want to sign a contract and that he wanted to leave as a free agent. That’s not about Shaparenko. He’s a decent person and we resolved everything in ten minutes. I congratulated him on the New Year holidays, we talked and he had no issues at all.
It takes courage, especially in such a difficult time, to extend a contract with Dynamo for five years. Mykola had seven months left on his contract. We all understand that he could have chosen a different path but Dynamo is not just an empty name to him.
At one time we signed him when he was 16 years old. I remember how Mykola Petrovych Pavlov called me and said: “Take this boy. If he works hard he will become a very good footballer.” Of course I was joking back then when people said Shaparenko was worth 300 millions but he is a very important player for Dynamo Kyiv.
I promised him that if there is a good offer for both him and the club we will not hold anyone back. Examples include Zabarnyi, Mykolenko and Vanat.
Today I am very pleased that he made the right decision. We need him, he will help us a lot in the league and the Cup, and I hope that next season we will also be playing in European competitions.
