Dynamo Kyiv President Ihor Surkis commented on the return of one of the best players in the history of the Ukrainian championships, Andriy Yarmolenko, to his home club:
Igor Surkis"First of all, I want to note that we were guided by the sporting component of this transfer. Last season, the team lacked quality of play and experience in attack, and Andriy is certainly a very high level player with vast experience in various tournaments.
Yarmolenko knows perfectly well how everything works at our club, he will not need time to adapt. We hope that Andriy's experience and level of play will help Dynamo take a step forward, and the team will perform much better than last season.
Dynamo head coach Mircea Lucescu was one of the initiators of Andriy's return home and wanted this transfer to be completed last winter. Due to circumstances beyond our control, the signing of the contract with Yarmolenko had to be postponed until the summer. I am sure that with Andriy we would have achieved much more in the second part of last season.
But now everything is in our hands: the coaching staff has got one of the best Ukrainian footballers, who with his play and experience can help bring the team to a new quality level.
Let's also not forget that Dynamo has a lot of young talented players who will be able to progress faster when they have such a master training and playing alongside them. This was also one of the factors behind Andriy's return to Kyiv.
On my own behalf, I would like to thank Yarmolenko for returning to his home country under such circumstances. This is a strong decision by a strong player in difficult times for all of us.
We thank the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the opportunity to host the Ukrainian championship, and we thank everyone who is helping our country in this terrible war. I am confident that Ukraine will win at the front, and our football will be able to progress and develop."
