The Dynamo youth team began preparing for the season at the end of June. They are laying the foundation for physical training. They have already played two sparring matches. Soon they will go to a friendly tournament in the Czech Republic. We need to defend the championship title and perform well in the UEFA Youth League, where we have not played since the beginning of the war.
The peculiarity of training the youth team is that every year one generation falls off. Now we finally have to say goodbye to 2004, which was actually represented at Dynamo only by Anton Tsarenko. He played very little last season at the U-19 level and not very effectively.
2005 will be a limited year. A certain number of players of this age can already be on the field. On the other hand, it makes no sense to keep players in the U-19 for a third season. The year 2005 should actively look for new teams at the adult level. We already know that Oleksiy Gusev is on trial with Zorya. Ivan Kotukha, Yegor Syzonyuk, Roman Salenko, Maksym Vasilets, Dmytro Kremchanin, Andriy Matkevych, and Vladyslav Herich have every chance of leaving for other clubs. There is no point in these players staying in the youth team. They are not good enough for the first team, and the U-19s have already taken everything they could. It is clear that experience can bring results, but at the youth level, the result is not the main thing. We need to prepare players for the first team.
The only exception is Taras Mikhavko. He has a chance to qualify for the first team and, if necessary, get playing practice at the youth championship level. Taras spent only one season in Dynamo's U-19, as he had previously played for FC Lviv.
The 2006 class, which actively played in the youth championship last season, will be the base or backbone. Plus, the 2007 players will be added. Some of them have already made their debut for the U-19 - Oleksiy Rybak, Volodymyr Ozymai, Bohdan Redushko. Plus the player of the year 2008 Pavlo Lucin.
Vyacheslav Surkis will remain the main goalkeeper. He is probably one of the best goalkeepers of the youth championship last season, along with Vladyslav Krapivtsov of Dnipro-1. Mykyta Hudymenko and Serhiy Kiblytskyi remain as backup goalkeepers. Plus the 2007-2008 goalkeepers Danylo Moiseev and Artem Slomka.
Oleksii Husiev is on trial at Zorya. It's time for him to gain experience in adult football. Oleksiy Rybak is to replace him at right back. Oleksiy can also play on the opposite flank of the defense.
There will also be changes in the center of defense. Defenders born in 2005, Nazar Balata and Yegor Syzonyuk, are unlikely to have serious prospects. At left center back, there is Taras Balaba, who will need to get game practice if he does not play in the first team. Let's not forget about the player of the year 2006 Maksym Korobov. It's time for Balaba to move on to adult football, but he got injured in the camp of the U-19 national team. If there are problems with the crosses, then at least the first part of the season will be lost.
The 2006 class of Vladyslav Zakharchenko and Maksym Korobov are likely to be the main pair. Zakharchenko has already played a little in the spring. Korobov came out, but not so much. He was not always healthy.
Fedir Kolomiets was signed from Spain. He started in the Barcelona system, then went to lesser clubs. He didn't play much in the spring to draw any serious conclusions. He has certain qualities, but there are also questions about his speed.
Demian Tretiak did not make it to the youth team. This is very strange, because he was a player of the 2007 national team of Ukraine. He made his debut for the U-19 last season. They wrote about the interest of MU in him. I don't really understand this decision, but the coaches know best.
Let's not forget about another player of 2007 - Daniel Dykhtyar. He can play in the center of defense or as a left back.
Another defender of 2007, Yevhen Malyuta, also works with the youth team. His prospects are not yet very clear.
Taras Mykhavko may stay at the U-19 level. Because the competition in the first team with the arrival of Brian Ceballos is huge. It is unlikely that Mykhavko has a real chance to become the main central defender in the senior team.
On the left flank, we hope for Denys Dykyi. He started the season as the main man. Then there were mistakes, not everything worked out. Injuries began. Ivan Kotukha started playing. I think that Dykyi needs to get physically and psychologically fit.
Danylo Ishchenko remains in the support area. The main thing is that injuries avoid him. Danylo played enough for the youth team last season. Volodymyr Ozymai, who is a year younger, should compete with him. Ihor Kostiuk has been training him for the U-19 since the fall of 2023.
The choice of players as insiders is also good - David Bilyi, Kyrylo Osypenko, Bohdan Redushko. They all had a great spring season. Osypenko has been one of the team's leaders since the beginning of the season. Redushko, who was one of the leaders of the 2007 Ukrainian national team, has great potential. He has the potential to reach the first team. Maksym Vasylets and Nazar Yanchyshyn need to change something. They were not even the main ones at the youth level. Roman Salenko can stay, but I'm not sure there's any point in it. Physically, he can already try his hand at the level of adult football.
There are reports of interest in Ramik Gadzhiev and Georgian Aleksandre Peikrishvili. Hajiyev is almost 19 years old. He needs to play at the adult level. It is unlikely that he will win the competition in Dynamo's first team, and there is no point in sitting in the youth team. It's hard to say anything substantive about Peikrishvili yet. Unless Dynamo Tbilisi has serious financial problems, so it is ready to sell its talents.
Journalist Mykhailo Spivakovsky says that Dynamo almost signed Danylo Khan and Denys Zhdanov from Dnipro-1. Khan is an insider, an attacking player. He was called up to the national team in 2006. In my opinion, Osypenko looks more convincing in this position. Plus there is Lucin, born in 2008, who is a year older. After the outbreak of war, Khan was at Athletic Bilbao. At the level of the youth championship, he did not grab the big stars. Zhdanov is a winger. He can play on both flanks, although his native right wing. At the very least, they should increase competition if they are signed.
Kyrylo Pashko works with the first team. Last season, he was not a mainstay in the youth team. I don't know what his chances are to get a foothold in Oleksandr Shovkovskyi's team. Andriy Yarmolenko is the main player at the right winger position. Plus, Nazar Voloshyn and newcomer Maksym Bragaru can play here. There is also Vladyslav Kalyn. He is also a player of 2006. Also a great talent, but last season he was hampered by injuries.
Players of 2005 Andriy Matkevych and Dmytro Kremchanin can already try their hand at the adult level. I'm not sure if they should stay in the youth team for another season. Matkevych misses the preparations for the season because he will play in the youth Euro.
In 2007, they have an interesting winger, Kostyantyn Hubenko. He and Rybak looked very good on the right wing in the DUFL. Now Gubenko is also working with the youth team.
There is no doubt that Matvii Ponomarenko will be the main forward if he is not called up to the first team. Vitaliy Lobko is the backup. Vladyslav Herich started well, but then dropped out due to injury. In fact, he missed the entire second part of the season and most of the first. He will be 19 at the end of the year, so they may keep him.
I would have predicted such a lineup somewhere: Surkis - Rybak, Zakharchenko (Kolomiyets), Korobov (Mykhavko, Syzonyuk), Dykyi (Dekhtyar) - Ishchenko (Ozymai), Bilyi (Salenko), Osypenko (Khan) - Pashko (Zhdanov), Ponomarenko (Lobko), and Matkevych (Kalyn).
Let's not forget about Ihor Kostiuk's talent for discovering players. Last season, Taras Mykhavko came out of nowhere. Now they are also holding various viewings. Therefore, we should also expect new players.
This team could have looked even stronger if not for the war. Goalkeeper Oleksandr Petrenko has been defending the colors of Bayer U-19 for the second season. Dmytro Bogdanov has already made his debut for the Dynamo Dresden senior team in the third strongest Bundesliga. We shouldn't forget about Atalanta's Oleksandr Dragan, who will try his hand at the Bergamo primavera next season. At least these three players of 2007 could now knock on Dynamo's youth team.
Serhiy Tyshchenko