Artem Kozak: "While Shakhtar was thinking, Dynamo intercepted me and Dubinchak and immediately enrolled us in their Academy

Kyiv Dynamo player Artem Kozak, who now plays for Zhytomyr Poles'e, told how he ended up in the structure of the capital club.

- How were you noticed and invited to Dynamo?

- Together with Vlad Dubinchak (the current first team defender of Kyiv Dynamo, - editor's note). were noticed when we played for BRV-VIK (amateur club from Volodymyr city of Volyn' oblast' - ed.).. I remember, we were told that there are options: "Shakhtar", "Dynamo" and "Dnipro". At first we were taken to Shakhtar, but it did not work out. As if our president wanted to get some financial payments, and while Shakhtar took time to think, Dynamo intercepted me and Dubinchak and enrolled us in their academy. It was an interesting story.

- Was there a major at Dynamo? For example, Lesovoy - who had rich parents and grandfather from the Party nomenclature, or Kosovskiy Jr. And there were guys from the regions that lived on scholarships... Was this felt?

- I guess it was noticeable. All the guys were brought up from cultured families. However, I can't say that it affected me or anyone else. Off the field is one thing. On the field is another thing. In soccer everything becomes visible on the field.

- Your Dynamo teammates have different fates: one is now in the Russian national team, the other is recording some tic-tac-toe. Another one was under MLS in the USA and then, they said, became a programmer... Whose twist of fate has surprised you the most and has it happened that the future star before your eyes just did not make it and found himself in another profession?

- Such cases, by the way, were few. That someone went to work as a programmer and, for that reason, did not become a soccer star. If someone went into other professions, it was because soccer was not able to reach the desired level. Talent isn't lost because of an ordinary job, it's more some non-football moments in my youth that make my head spin and take away my balance. I've seen guys like that - guys who were talented, but didn't take care of themselves in time. Time flies fast.

- What did you lack to break into the first team of Dynamo? When were you the closest to it?

- When I played for the youth team. I talked a lot with our Spanish coaches. I played regularly for my age group. It seemed that here was my chance. But the competition was too high, foreigners with great experience, transfer value, national team experience played in my positions. Time passed, I saw that it was hard to break through.

Artur Valerko