The wings of the old days are no more, the ones that dribbled and always created numerical superiority. Anyone who agrees with this statement has never seen Viktor Tsyhankov at work.
The Dynamo Kyiv nineteen year-old has already shown his skills in this part of the season and in Champions League on the team coached by Serhiy Rebrov. He is a left outside who often plays on the right, with a normal build (1.75 cm and 70 Kg) but with moves in the first steps and subsequent short line dribbling.
Viktor is extremely quick, even in receiving passes with his back to the goal when he goes “inside” the pitch and challenges the opposing defense (a quality that potentially makes him a good option as a midfielder), as well as when he receives the ball on the wing and easily beats his adversary in one-on-one challenges, consistently gaining the upper hand. The winning assist for Harmash in the Champions League match against Napoli, on the other hand, draws a bit of attention to a defect that the young man will soon need to improve, otherwise it will force everything previously done well into the background. And that is the ability to pass the ball better to his teammates after the initial dribbling (a formality for Viktor) or even the wisdom not to always try to get past an opponent who is biding his time and moving backward, because he knows he would be able to nine times out of ten, but to look up and complete a quick and accurate pass.
The 19 years of age also has a brilliant shot from a distance when he lines it up starting from the right (see the match against Zoria on 18 September 2016 at 50:24 and the goal against Karpaty Lviv), but he can also use his right foot accurately and powerfully up close without becoming unbalanced (goals against Skenderbeu Korce, Maccabi Tel Aviv U-19 and Vorskla U-21).
Positioning and movements in the phase without ball possession needs to be verified, but they are fundamentals that, with instruction, consistency and application, can be easily improved. Even starting from the left side he knows how to serve up an inviting cross, whereas he needs to become a bit more cynical in the goal scoring phase, even if the 2 goals scored in the Ukrainian Premier League in just 4 matches would indicate an important scoring average.
The Dynamo Kyiv left wing was one of the youngest players on the roster on the first day of Champions League. The technical parallel is spot on that compares him with his compatriot Konoplyanka, wing for Shalke 04.
This is one to keep a close eye on.
