Almost every week, the media reports on Dynamo Kyiv's interest in a central defender. At first, it was players from the Romanian, Bulgarian, Polish and Turkish leagues. Then they started talking and writing about players from Colombia.
Each time new candidates appear, time passes, but the transfer still doesn't happen. Although there are just three weeks left before the start of the second part of the season.
With every passing day until the championship resumes, the chances of Dynamo signing a new defender are becoming less and less. The fact is that the team is preparing for the resumption of the championship. At the first Turkish training camp, Dynamo worked on their physical condition. At the second one, they will play the squad and get into playing condition. The arrival of a new player in February is a direct risk of different physical and game preparation with the existing players. It will take time to balance the game and physical form of a potential newcomer with the first team players. Playing in the centre of defence requires chemistry, an understanding of the team's play and the head coach's requirements. You can't get this in a couple of days or weeks. In reality, a new player will be able to make a difference at the end of March or beginning of April. There won't be many matches left until the end of the championship.
Foreign clubs understand that the market for players in Ukraine is limited now. There are not many players who will agree to go and play in a country at war. You need to overpay the club, you need to overpay the player. These are all very difficult negotiations. We need the player to come not only for the money, but also to see the prospects. We already have experience of signing Justin Lonwijk and Kahim Perres on good personal terms. It didn't work out well.
I am sure that Oleksandr Shovkovskyi understands this situation perfectly well. He works with the players he has rather than waiting for new ones. Now there are five central defenders in the first team at once (Popov, Syrota, Bilovar, Dyachuk and Mikhavko). The head coach is in no hurry to say goodbye to anyone. He needs the depth of the squad, competition right now, and not the hope that someone will come and immediately strengthen the team.
I think that Shovkovskyi himself will not be very happy about the signing of a new defender in February. This is an additional pressure for him, because we bought the player for good money. Why is he not playing, or is he not playing consistently? Where is the result if you strengthen a problematic position? The existing defenders will be under additional pressure. They already have problems with their own confidence in their actions. And so it will be clear that someone needs to leave because they are not counted on. This will further undermine the situation and potentially lead to mistakes.
In 2020, Mircea Lucescu did not rush to strengthen the team with transfers after joining the team. He started working with the existing players. At the time, there were no less problems in the centre of defence. There was no result in sparring matches. Thanks to the actions taken by the team, the team made it to the Champions League and took the lead in the UPL. This whole situation led not only to the rise of Dynamo, but also to the crisis of Shakhtar, who spared no expense on new players. Now, with 15 million Brazilians (Marlon Gomez had no preparation for the season and is now injured) and star Georgi Sudakov, there is nothing else but first place for Mariano Pušić. Any bad results will simply put enormous pressure on the coach, the newcomers and the team leaders. If something goes wrong, Shakhtar could face a crisis as early as spring, as they did when Luis Castro was in charge.
Shovkovskyi is a young coach. This is his first independent experience. Investing money in players is a risk for such a specialist. We need to see how Oleksandr will spend the second part of the season. Based on the results of the season and the coach's work, we can form the team and strengthen it point by point. This is a more rational option, especially during the war. If it's the Champions League, that's one possibility. The Europa League or the Conference League is a completely different approach to team selection.
Serhii Tyshchenko
