The commercial director of Dnipro-1, Vyacheslav Fridman, has commented on the recent information that three Brazilian legionnaires of the club (midfielder Vitinho, striker Marcos Andre and defender Varjao) refuse to return to Ukraine.
"This decision of the guys was influenced by the events that took place on the night of 13 February (the day of the massive drone attack on the Dnipropetrovsk region, including Dnipro - ed.). There is a video of how the entire youth team living at the base in Pridneprovsk was in the basement all night. It should be understood that it is not a very safe area there, far from the centre, there is a critical energy infrastructure facility nearby.
All the players experienced a lot of stress, and if our local guys may have got used to it, the Brazilians were very scared. They communicate with each other, so this information reached the Brazilians who went to the training camp. The recent shelling only strengthened their decision to leave. How can you keep them? They are rented players, we will not bully people, so we buy them tickets and they go home. They will not give themselves to football, they will be afraid, there is no point in keeping them.
This decision is final, there's nothing more that can be done. Players are not bound by a long-term contract, there is no way to keep them here. Young players will play without motivation and will be dissatisfied, what is the point of keeping them here? Young guys who came to a foreign country, in a state of war and experienced stress - no one will keep them," the Dnipryanin TV channel quoted Friedman as saying.