FIFA agent, representative of ALIK Football Management agent company Ihor Kryvenko assessed the Ukrainian football transfer market, revealed the secret of why famous players prefer the first league and talked about clubs in which considerable changes can take place.
— Let's start with the main thing. What is the probability that Viktor Tsygankov, Mykhailo Mudryk and Artem Dovbyk will end up in European clubs this winter?
- Minimal. "Shakhtar" will not let Mudryk go for the money they are currently offering. €100 million is an inadequate price. A player from the championship of Ukraine cannot be worth more than, for example, from the Netherlands. You have to look at things realistically. There is a market value, and the "miners" seem to be taking numbers from the ceiling.
The Boy in the Golden Cage. I know for sure that in the summer the English "Brentford" offered good money for Mudryk, but the Donetsk people refused. It seems as if they want to reflect on their talent everything that they lost in past failed transfers.
I also believe that "Dynamo" will not sell Tsygankov, and "Dnipro-1" - Dovbyk. Leaders will be kept for solving tournament tasks. It is important, in my opinion, that they are asking for market-adequate numbers - and it is not 100 million. However, Tsyhankov's contract expires in six months, and Dovbyk's in a year. They can leave as free agents. However, this is not a big secret for the football world.
— That is, waiting for high-profile transfers in the current offseason is obviously not worth it?
— I don't think that any star will come to Ukraine or, on the contrary, there will be a big transfer in the opposite direction. I give one percent. It is possible that some of the leased will return to Ukraine, but there will not be a serious flow from abroad one hundred percent. No one is in a hurry to play to the sound of sirens. This is the main reason for the low transfer activity.
— An interesting thing is happening: some players (Hoblenko, Bobko) prefer teams from lower leagues to Premier League clubs. What do you explain? Only money?
- There are several reasons. Football players want to play where it's calmer and where they pay well. Polissia, Karpaty, LNZ are teams with ambitions and conditions. In some cases, simply crazy money is offered.
— Yevhenii Pasich from "Veres" moved to "Dnipro-1". According to Transfermarkt, Dnipro paid 150,000 euros for him. Does this mean that free cheese is only in the mousetrap?
- Not at all. Dnipro needed a player for a specific position, they agreed with their rivals and bought Pasich. And the fact that the "fashion" for paid transfers is returning within the domestic market is encouraging.
— Many Ukrainian performers who are abroad are in no hurry to return home due to hostilities. As a result, the transfer market has become impoverished. Do you agree?
- He became impoverished, first of all, due to the outflow of legionnaires. Clubs lost qualified personnel, no equivalent replacements were found. Now even a kalachem cannot lure a foreigner into our championship, the reason is known.
— Which clubs are now willing to pay for newcomers?
— The giants are Shakhtar, Dynamo, also Dnipro-1, Zorya, Kryvbas. In the summer, "Vorskla" paid considerable sums for the legionnaires. Now, it seems, she is no longer into transfers...
— In your opinion, which teams will update the most in the winter?
— Outsiders. Ahead is a fight not only for a place under the sun, but also in an impoverished transfer market. I think it will be interesting.
Arthur Malkin