Alexey Lundovsky explained Fanday how things are with the possible transfer of Artem Dovbik to foreign clubs.
Artem Dovbik (photo: scdnipro1.com.ua)— How would you comment on the information of the Italians that the Serie A clubs have returned to the negotiations on Dovbik?
- I'm a little surprised why the information appeared right now, who benefits from it, and why exactly those, and not other, amounts are called. Let's figure it out. The clubs did not return to the negotiations because they did not leave them. A serious transfer is a permanent job. Our contacts with foreign clubs did not stop, all the clubs that appeared in the media continue to monitor Dovbik and work on preparing the transfer. There was another point in these few messages that surprised me.
- What is this?
- Transfer amount. You saw that 7-8 million euros were mentioned. Dnepr-1 will not even look at such an amount now.
I’ll just remind you that back in the summer, when Dovbik was without playing practice, they officially offered 10 million for him, and then many had doubts about how Artem would come out after a forced break and injury, how quickly he would be able to regain his tone.
Now, when he is again the top scorer in the UPL after the autumn part of the season, and even reinforced this with performance in European competitions, his price will clearly be higher than in summer. What 7-8 million?
— Are there people willing to pay so much?
- Yes there is. Driving forwards in the European market cost even a lot of money. Artem really reached a certain level, status. In the strongest championships in Eastern Europe, there are no more homegrown forwards of his age, experience, data, who would have scored so consistently over the past two years. Dovbik scored 40 goals during this time. And he scored at all levels. This is a respectable indicator, it confirms his class.
— Specifically, which clubs show interest in Dovbik?
- In general, in transfers that have not yet taken place, they do not talk about specifics - everything is in the process. But I can assure you that there is interest from the championships of England, Italy, France, Turkey, Belgium. This is if we talk about teams that requested some data, statistics, videos.
- At the same time, Tsyganyk said that Dovbik would not leave Dnipro-1 anywhere, as he wanted to become the champion and top scorer of the UPL.
— Well, of course, Artyom has sports ambitions. The priority is a transition to a strong foreign championship, but if this transfer does not work out in winter, then Artem, of course, will make every effort to help Dnipro-1 in the fight for the championship and further promotion in European competitions.
Artem himself would like to play in England or Italy, and the clubs of these championships can pull the transfer amount - for them, this is a normal practice of paying for the transfer of a stable scorer. And for Dovbik, it is important that SC Dnepr-1 work on his transfer.
It's good that there are clubs that are probing the soil and would like to acquire Dovbik. This will be true in relation to Dnepr-1, which has done a lot for the development of Artem.
- What is the probability of Dovbik crossing this winter?
- It is smaller than it was in the summer, but it is also there. The fact is that clubs from the top 5 championships are working very thoughtfully, according to plan. That is, they made purchases in the summer, spent most of the budget on transfers, filled vacancies under the limit for non-EU players. Now the necessary circumstances must arise: either someone will sell the leading striker or legionnaire and receive free funds, or an injury will happen.
But I am glad that interest in Dovbik is consistently high and is growing after a strong half year. Another club from the top championship appeared, whose head coach wanted to invite Artyom to his former team a year ago, and now his interest has only increased.
Artem Voitsekhovsky
