Kyiv "Dynamo" is currently going through not the best of times. In the championship, the team is far from fighting for the championship. I would stay here in the medals. Nothing happened in the European Cups. If even Mircea Lucescu can get out of the crisis and build a new team, the Romanian's age should still be taken into account. Mirchi will be 78 this summer. He does not have a far-sighted perspective. Especially since Mirchi's contract runs until the summer of 2024. There is only one full season left. It is already necessary to evaluate the successor. Study potential candidates.
Patrick van Leeuwen and Ihor KostiukThe war, the economic situation in the country led to the need to rely on its own personnel. A high-quality foreign coach will not come to Ukraine now. If you actually manage to convince someone, you need a serious budget for team composition, coaching staff.
It is very important that a potential mentor matches the capabilities of the club. Coaches need to invite with a view to working with young players. Actually, Ihor Jovicevich lined up in Shakhtar because the Croatian coach is the best fit for the existing team. Jovi is a good psychologist, motivator. Helps young players to assert themselves and have faith in their abilities. "Shakhtar" plays based on the potential and strengths of the existing squad. If De Derby remained there with his ideas of dominance, then nothing good awaited the team.
"Dynamo" needs a mentor who will conduct capital investment of players. For the youth to develop, play and cost more accordingly. It is necessary to mold good players from Kyiv talents. Must be able to work with youth.
Obviously, only two candidates look real here - Patrick van Leeuwen and Igor Kostiuk.
Patrick
Pluses. You can't help but like today's Zorya. The team has a game and a score. They beat Dynamo in two matches. Patrick finds an approach to players and youth. In the end, Nazarii Rusyn played. Three coaches of "Dynamo" and the coach of "Legia" could not access this football player. Rusyn now looks more interesting and more productive than Vladislav Kabaev. Now 19-year-old Oleksandr Saputin, whom no one knew at all a few months ago, is looking good in goal. Patrick will feel the potential of the players. He saw prospects in Volodymyr Brazhko. What his senior colleague Lucescu could not see. Even Serhiy Buletsa began to gain class and football fat.
It is very important that Patrick is a trainer of the Dutch methodology. He has some education and understanding of the process. Not only the result becomes important, but also the game, the attack of the team.
At one time, van Leeuwen was the chief methodologist of the Shakhtar Academy. He created a system that gave birth to Oleksandr Zinchenko, Ruslan Malinovskyi, Oleksandr Zubkov, Mykola Matvienko. Before that, he worked at "Feye". His view of Dynamo talent will be a little different than what it is. These are people from another system.
From the application of the national team of Israel, which was in the final of the youth Euro U-19, 8 players were from the "Maccabi" system, who went through Patrick's schools. The club relied on its own school because it had problems with financial fair play. Patrick knows how to educate young people and guide their development.
Patrick is adapted to life in Ukraine. He knows the Russian language. It has its own headquarters. He understands what Ukrainian young players are like. Financially, his work will not be expensive.
Cons. Currently, work at "Zora" is the best for Patrick in terms of results. He could not succeed in Israel and was fired, although he had time to work. Before that, he was the coordinator of young players and sports director of Kairata. He worked as a methodologist in Shakhtar, Feye. Patrick does not have a lot of experience as a coach with adult teams, although he is already 53 years old.
"Maccabi" is also a big club in its country, like "Dynamo" in Ukraine. The most popular and famous club in the country. Every loss of points, every failure has publicity. Patrick could not withstand this pressure. Problems began with the management, players, which led to his resignation. The team was really excited. "Dynamo" for Ukraine is somewhere close to what "Maccabi" is for Israel. Zora has no responsibility or attention.
In Israel, Patrick also did well at first. Yes, somewhere like now in "Zorya". And then the team quickly went to the bottom. The reasons are the loss of the locker room, the demanding nature of the coach. To draw full conclusions about his work, you need to observe him for a long time. Until he successfully steamed even a season.
Van Leeuwen's agent is Vadim Chablis. Here, it is very important that the "new Qadiris" do not start driving. Football players who do not meet the level of "Dynamo" and will only block the path of Kyiv youth.
Patrick has a three-year contract with Zorya. Until June 2025. Already in the winter, it was said that there was interest in the coach from Europe. But it is not so easy to take a coach from Evgeny Heller. Viktor Skrypnyk was never able to transfer to "Dnipro-1" in time. When needed, "Dynamo" had a very difficult time signing Vladyslav Kabaev from "Zora". Heller squeezed a lot out of this football player. It will be very easy to agree on a coach.
Ihor Kostyuk
Pluses. Ihor Volodymyrovych has been working in the team system for a long time. At first he was in the Academy, since the summer of 2017 he has been leading the youth team. One of the few who showed progress and ambition. Was able to develop his career to the youth team.
Kostyuk's main advantage is that he has been in the club's system for many years. Knows all the young players. Almost all Ukrainians from the first team passed through the hands of Igor Volodymyrovych - Nescheret, Popov, Vyvcharenko, Vanat, etc.
He sees the potential of the players no worse than Patrick and trusts the youth. Samba Diallo went from a full name to a very serious revelation at the level of youth football. Now it is one of the main assets of "Dynamo". Actually, a new team can be built around this football player. Especially given the problems with the wings in the first team. For Kostyuk, his wards Nazar Voloshyn and Diallo can become the points. We boldly add here Volodymyr Brazhko, Oleksandr Yatsyk. These are footballers who have revealed themselves to Igor Volodymyrovych, but have not yet played for the first team. Or saw the potential of a very young Ilya Zabarny.
No one will mind if the same Samba repeats the path of the Sage. They have a lot in common. There is simply no such trust in African talent.
In the last four years, one championship was won. But two championships were not completed due to covid and war. In one game, the number of points with Shakhtar was equal. But the Donetsk team needed first place more so that the country would have two teams in the UEFA Youth League. In this tournament, the Kyivans were able to make noise by "beating" one of the best Academies in the world, "Benfica", a very strong school of "Anderlecht". They beat status clubs "Barcelona" and "Bavaria". Actually, the team reached the 1/8 finals of this tournament twice, where luck was a little lacking. Last year, if it were not for the war, a lot could have been attempted.
It may not look convincing to some. But you need to understand that the coach has almost no possibility of selection. Whom the Academy has trained, he plays. The example with Samba was an exception. Give the quality of the players to the coach, and then demand the result.
It is very important that Kostyuk is never a Dynamo heart. Under this concept, I personally include coaches who got a job only because they once successfully played for Dynamo's first team. Ihor Volodymyrovych did not have a successful career as a football player, he was never a star. Rather, a good player. He made his coaching Karra himself. He started with the Academy and reached the youth team, which is already impossible to imagine without him. The coach himself admits that the arrival of Spanish specialists Unai Melgosa and Vicente Gomez changed his view of football. This system can help develop not only young players, but also coaches.
A very important quality of Kostyuk the coach is building new teams. He has such a specificity of doing. New teams need to be built every two years, because the generation of players changes. Someone goes to the first team, someone gains experience through loan, and someone changes the club. The first team must also get used to this, in light of potential sales. Football players should not sit in the club.
I am very impressed that Igor Volodymyrovych pays great attention to the analysis and study of the opponent. Let's put it this way, they approach the opponent's misunderstandings with understanding. In the matches of the UEFA Youth League, Dynamo players come out with an understanding of the opponent's strengths and weaknesses.
Disadvantages Lack of experience in adult football. There is a huge difference between youngsters and professionals. Here is a completely different attention, responsibility.
Lack of media presence. Most Dynamo fans know about the youth team only by results, but have never seen a game. We need to write and talk more about Ihor. He is a really promising mentor who can grow into a quality coach.
I believe that Kostyuk's coaching staff needs strengthening. His former partners and friends are there. Who can hardly see football in a different way and help the coach himself become stronger. As a minimum, individual players lack concentration. The attacker must implement everything, or precisely strive for it.
Who to choose?
I really want Patrick to end up in Dynamo. Only not as a head coach, but as a methodologist, or in U-19. With his experience, he would help the people of Kyiv in capital investment. He knows how to develop players, especially attacking potential.
But we must value ours. Do not think that somewhere is better. Kostyuk has come a long way to its current status. If the club chose to bet on its own youth, then it should also not forget about young coaches. Ihor Volodymyrovych earned his chance with his work.
Dynamo has a great experience with Rebrov. Who was not appointed immediately, but he went step by step to the position of head coach. He started as an assistant coach in "Dynamo-2", and then produced good results in the first team. Serhiy Stanislavovych simply lived by this work. Why not continue this line?
The appointment of Patrick will be a recognition that Shakhtar's school is better than Dynamo. If the former Methodist receives recognition at the level of the team's main rival, then this is evidence that not everything is going well with the team.
Serhii Tyshchenko
