Former Dynamo Kyiv midfielder Denys Yanakov, who currently plays for Veres Rivne on loan from Zhytomyr's Polissia, recalled his career with the capital's club.
Denys Yanakov during his performances for Dynamo- You have quite a bright biography in youth and youth football. At that level, there were no authorities for you. What prevented you from transferring this to adult football?
- Working with the Spaniards at Dynamo had a great influence. All the boys born in 1997-98-99 - look how many guys play at a high level. Unai and Vicente were very demanding.
- Didn't you have to get under their skin?
- There were no humps with them. The training process is a shout, a stop, they chew you out to the smallest detail. A very fanatical attitude to football.
- Which of your former Dynamo team-mates do you keep in touch with?
- We are always in touch with the guys. I'm very worried about them, especially about Mykolenko, who has had his points deducted from Everton again.
- Mykolenko's case of getting into Dynamo's first team can be called atypical. He didn't marinate in loans or duplicates, but immediately played after Pivaric's injury.
- Mykola came straight into the first team from the U-19. Football always gives you a chance, and he took full advantage of it.
- Nowadays, it's easier for young players to make a name for themselves at the adult level. Could your generation have reached a new level in the absence of legionnaires?
- Everyone started playing - and look at how their pupils started bringing in money. "Dynamo and Shakhtar are in the top 10 in terms of the number of pupils in adult teams. Before, they used to buy freaks who thought that if he passed to his teammate, it was a blessing.
Legionnaires are bought for a lot of money. He doesn't want to train, run - and that's okay. A lot of things were allowed, especially at Shakhtar under Lucescu. And Ukrainians ran and burped. Instead of pulling their teammates up. Instead of waiting to see if the freak would shoot or not. How many guys lost their lives because of this! I know many examples.
- Buletsa and Tsitaishvili fit your description, but why didn't you manage to get a foothold at Dynamo?
- He was young and stupid. I wouldn't have done such bullsh*t as I did before. It was because of domestic issues that I had a lot of rentals.
- Were there any serious flights?
- It happened that I could get into a fight with local hoodlums. That was when I was a teenager. We were wearing uniforms, and they were harassing us. There were five normal girls in the whole school, and 20 boys.
- Didn't you take your girlfriends away from each other?
- No, no. At Dynamo, there were no secret relationships, no girls' bounces, no rebounds. We had a gentleman's agreement that even when we broke up, a year of distance had to pass.
- What mistake are you most ashamed of?
- The biggest mistake I made in my career was when I wanted to go on loan to Arsenal. Ravanelli was a coach at the time. I saw that Dubinchak, Osman, Orikhovskyi went to play in the UPL, and I was worse? The whole sh*t started with that.
- You played a lot against future superstars at the youth team level. I can recall Joao Felix (Barcelona), Kai Havertz (Arsenal), Matthijs de Ligt (Bayern Munich). Which of them stood out even then?
- It happens in life: they were all taken around when they were young. The boys are now playing in the top teams, and you didn't really play in the UPL at the age of 25. Felix is very memorable, because thanks to his play in the UEFA Youth League, Benfica pulled him into the first team and in six months he was sold to Atletico for crazy money - incredible progress! This is back to the topic of why you should bet on your own. I also have a lot of questions about myself. It's a pity you can't turn back the clock.
- Did you exchange shirts?
- No, we didn't. Who would have thought...[that they would become stars].
- How did one of the highest scoring wingers among young people not become a world champion? Did you have a conflict with Petrakov?
- Yes, there was. He allowed himself a lot of excess. There can be no questions to Vasylovych. Only because of my character did I not go to the Euro (U-19) or the World Cup (U-20).
- What is your attitude to the fact that Vasylovych went to work in Armenia, which is geopolitically in the orbit of the aggressor country, and calls up legionnaires from the Russian championship to the local team?
- We haven't spoken to Vasylovych for a long time, and everyone knows the fact that Russians are a f*cking race.
- Supryaga, Sikan, Ustymenko, who were then selected for the 2019 World Cup, cannot boast of stability or shoot in segments. Does it all go to your head?
- It would be wrong of me to speak for the guys.
- Not every guy can withstand being shouted at all the time, knowing Petrakov's methods of education. How do you not break down psychologically at such moments?
- If they shout at you, it means they believe in you. It's worse when you are treated indifferently. Some people are offended, while others react with a smile.
- What about Dynamo? Which of the coaches managed to get through to you?
- Yurii Leontiiovych Moroz gave me a lot of impetus to adult football and taught me a lot. I can say that thanks to him, my path in football continues.
- In addition to Moroz, you also worked with Ihor Kostiuk in the Dynamo structure. In terms of their potential, can both specialists be in demand in adult football?
- I have worked with Moroz and Kostyuk. They could have made a name for themselves at the adult level a long time ago.
Oleksandr Karpenko
