Bohdan Mykhailichenko, a graduate of Dynamo Kyiv's academy, has joined Dinamo Zagreb. According to the media, the transfer fee was 800 thousand euros. The term of the contract is not known. The transfer market modestly states one year.
I believe that Bohdan could potentially be of interest to another Dynamo Kyiv. The fact is that various clubs are interested in Kostiantyn Vivcharenko. They wrote about Porto and Burnley. As I understood it from the experience of the transfers of Vitaliy Mykolenko and Ilya Zabarnyi, it's all about the amount. If Ihor Surkis is offered good money, the transfer can take place this summer. Denys Dykyi is still very young and will only spend his first year in the youth team this season. Mykhailichenko could become a competitor for Vlad Dubinchak and strengthen the depth at left-back if Vivcharenko is sold in the summer. To put it simply: Vivcharenko is sold for 20 million, and Mykhailichenko is bought for 800 thousand without the risk of losing the player's level.
I have a lot of respect for Pavlo Mykolayovych Kikot, who coached Viktor Tsygankov, Volodymyr Shepelev and Yegor Nazarin at Dynamo in 1997. Kikot found Mykhailychenko in Knyazhya. He was a central defender there. His character and strong-willed qualities were immediately apparent. Life happened so that Mykhailychenko became a player of another Dynamo.
Why did Bohdan move to Dinamo Zagreb?
1. Back in 2020, Football 24 wrote that the Croatian giants were interested in the Ukrainian left-back. Transfers are a thing that requires many factors to coincide. A player can be on the pencil for a long time, and transfers happen when his price is the lowest or he is most available. Bogdan still had a year left on his contract with Anderlecht, and Shakhtar didn't need him. The Belgian club covered its costs for the Ukrainian (Zorya paid 500 thousand).
2. Igor Jovićević worked in the Dinamo Zagreb system for three years. First as a coach of the youth team, and then for two months he was in charge of the senior team. Of course, he still has a good relationship with the Croatian club's management. Jovi knows Bohdan very well because he worked with him for a year at Shakhtar. The matchmaker's head in this story is clear.
3. Last summer, Robert Ljubić arrived in Zagreb to fill the problematic left-back position. He proved himself to be a great player last autumn in the Champions League. Ljubicic was born in Austria but is an ethnic Croat. He has already been granted Croatian football citizenship. Roberto is one of the club's assets. He can be sold at any time. In addition, Ljubićić needs competition, because he is not making much progress. After the transfer of Mislav Oršić, there are problems with the left midfielder. The young talent Gabriel Rukavina is injured. Antonio Marin was even brought back for this reason. If necessary, Ljubić can play higher in the midfield.
I think that if Bogdan had joined Dinamo Zagreb in the summer of 2020, he could have already claimed to play in the leading European championships today. In Croatia, they know how to mould and sell players. The period at Anderlecht was not spent on career development and the acquisition of new skills for the Ukrainian defender. There are no great prospects in Croatia. "Dynamo is looking for a player to fill certain needs (not for further resale) - depth of the squad and competition. He needs to be two heads above the local player (Ljubićić) to really claim something at Dinamo Zagreb.
There is football nationalism in Croatia. When local players have an advantage over foreigners. One of the main strengths of Dinamo Zagreb is the team. There are almost no foreigners there. Most of the foreigners are Bosnians and Macedonians. Therefore, a lot will depend on Bogdan's adaptation in the new team.
Serhii Tyshchenko