Column by Serhiy Tyshchenko. In search of a new Carlos de Pena

At the beginning of 2019, Carlos de Pena was on a trial with Paphos. This club from Cyprus is well known to Ukrainian fans. Dmytro Mykhailenko worked as a coach for the team. Former Dynamo players Orest Kuzyk and Artur Rudko defended the team's colours.

At the time, de Pena looked like a downed pilot. He couldn't play for Middlesbrough in England, and then there was the story of Oviedo in Spain. Even in his homeland of Uruguay, he was not particularly wanted by anyone. Carlos asked Paphos for a one-year contract with a salary of 120,000 euros per season, or 10,000 per month, plus household expenses such as a car and housing. These are very modest conditions. "Paphos paid much more money to their players. Plus, they provided a house with a swimming pool and a car. But de Pena was denied a contract.

In March of the same year, Carlos was on trial at Dynamo. If I'm not mistaken, there were problems with injuries and the attacking line needed to be strengthened. Leonid Buryak recommended the Uruguayan to the club. Oleksandr Hatskevych, the team's coach at the time, liked De Pena. He signed a contract until the end of the season, then for two years, and then extended it for the same period. The Uruguayan was the main player for Khatskevich, Mykhailychenko and Lucescu. If not for the war, Carlos still had every chance to play in Kyiv.

I believe that Carlos de Pena is one of Dynamo's best transfers in recent times. The player came as a free agent. He had very modest personal conditions. There were no problems with him. At the same time, he brought a lot of value to the football field.

Dynamo's previous coach Mircea Lucescu did not practice viewings. He had his own view on the selection. The great Valeriy Lobanovsky, on the contrary, gave the players the opportunity to prove themselves during the off-season or winter training camp. It didn't matter your name, status or club. Belarusian Alexander Gleb is still offended that he was not selected. If you can prove yourself, why not try? Some people came and stayed, while others went back.

Nowadays, Roman Hryhorchuk hardly ever takes players to Chornomorets without watching them. First, the coach has to see how the player works, and only then draw conclusions about him.

Samba Diallo came to Kyiv as a complete no-name. Nobody knew anything about him, even at the youth level among football experts in Africa. Igor Kostyuk saw his potential at the first training session. After that, Samba became unavailable due to covid for several months. For six months, Samba had been scoring at the youth level for Bayern Munich and Barcelona, and was attracting interest from AC Milan and Bayern Munich.

Despite the lack of significant success in Europe in recent years, Dynamo's status remains quite serious. In winter, the club will be offered various players. Including free agents. I understand that more than 90 per cent of the players in this category will not be suitable. But if you don't look, if you don't hold viewings, then you won't find reinforcements. In football, not only the player's talent matters, but also the coach's ability to work with the player. Here, I am very impressed with Oleksandr Shovkovskyi's skills and talents. Remember how Kahim Parris started playing in the spring, even though Lucescu didn't need him.

Serhii Tyshchenko