Ionikos Ukrainian defender Dmytro Chygrynskiy has told the story of his legendary transfer from Shakhtar to Barcelona at the start of the 2009/2010 season.
Dmitriy Chygrynskiy"After the game against Barcelona (1-2) Jordi Cruyff, who was at Metallurg Donetsk at the time, told me that Pep Guardiola spoke highly of me. I never thought the subject would go further. There were rumours in the press in the winter, but nothing happened.
I really realised it was serious when Guardiola called me during pre-season in Switzerland. I was scared. Pep told me, "I want you to be Pique's partner for years to come. I like your first pass...". I was shocked.
I concentrated on my job and didn't ask the president anything. He told me, "If they pay as much as you are worth, we'll give you the green light." He doubled my salary and did it without a contract extension. I told him, "Whatever you decide, it will be fine. I trust you."
Two days before the game, the president sat me down for dinner with Mircea Lucescu and said: "After the final you are leaving. But we want to win the title". I knew I couldn't leave on a minor note. We lost in overtime (0-1) but made it very difficult for them. I felt proud of the team.
We took the medals and we got a lineout. And when I walked by, some people hugged me and said, "Welcome to Barça, Dimitri. And also on the field the president told me: "Tomorrow you're going to the Barça hotel, pack your things. Thank you for everything," Chygrynskiy told Relevo.
