I believe Maksym Imerekov was one of the best central defenders in the UPL last season. He was the defence chief of Zorya Luhansk, which claimed second place until the last round and became the season's discovery. Under Imerekov, his partner in the centre of defence, Arseniy Batagov, has developed into a star, and he could be sold for a lot of money this summer.
Maxim ImerekovIn my opinion, Maksym could bring some benefit to Dynamo Kyiv. I am far from betting on an almost 33-year-old defender. It's a bit different here.
Dynamo has one of the youngest defence centres in Ukraine (there is also Rukh). The oldest among them is Denys Popov, who is 24 years old. All the other defenders are even younger. A very important thing for young players is game practice. Without it, we can't talk about progress. We need 4 defenders for the season. It is clear that there are cards and, accordingly, disqualifications, injuries have not been cancelled. Popov misses a lot of games due to various injuries.
The whole load falls on three centre-backs. The fourth one is more of a bench player, who only comes on the pitch due to coincidence. Unfortunately, there are no prerequisites for Popov, Sirota and Dyachuk to be promoted. Their transfers to stronger championships for good money are not expected this summer. No one will say goodbye to them. We expect further progress and stability from them. These three have the best chance of forming the centre of defence of the capital's team next season.
Anton Bol or Kristian Bilovar may play the role of the fourth centre-back. Anton already made his debut for the first team this season in the spring. He is already 20 years old and has already passed the age censor in the youth league. Christian, 23, spent a year in Cyprus, where he had a year of playing practice with AEK Limassol (31 matches per season). If they are retained, Bol or Bilovar may find themselves without playing practice. The role of the fourth central defender does not involve many playing minutes.
We can talk a lot about competition and work in training, but Lucescu is a very conservative coach. He will not change his mind. If Bol or Bilovar have not been bet on before, then little will change now. I personally have no doubts.
I'm just saying that it would be nice to have an experienced fourth defender who can play the matches he needs to play. On 1 July, Imerekov becomes a free agent. There is no need to pay anything for him. He will agree to play the role of a reserve. He will be completely satisfied with a personal contract with Dynamo at the end of his career. Mykyta Burda could also remain in this role. Relatively speaking, if Bol was sent out on loan in the winter, and Burda played the necessary minutes for Dynamo's first team,
And young people need to gain experience. If you are over 20 years old and you have not yet lost the competition, then you need to look for another way to the first team - to gain experience on loan. And then come back more ready to win the competition. Sitting on the sidelines, you can easily lose all confidence. A full season in the UPL will not only help Bol and Bilovar in terms of developing their careers, but will also give an answer to whether they are capable of playing for Dynamo's first team.
Serhii Tyshchenko
