«I didn’t want to be in this system where you are controlled and decisions are made for you», — a graduate of „Shakhtar“ on the

The graduate of Donetsk „Shakhtar“, Rostyslav Rusin, spoke about how he felt the principles and methods of this club.

“When I was in the youth team of „Shakhtar“, I ran around in circles for a year and a half because I didn’t want to re-sign the contract with the miners.

I didn’t sign a new contract because I had only one path — „Mariupol“. And this was decided without considering the player’s opinion. Whether you want it or not — you have to go, because that’s what the club said.

And I didn’t want to be in this system where you are controlled and decisions about what to do and where to go are made for you. It’s hard when you are controlled. Because you can be pushed to a team where you may not even be needed by the coach, or on the contrary — they will tell you that you have to play there constantly. There are various situations.

I couldn’t transfer anywhere because a lot of money had to be paid for me — 300 or 400 thousand euros. The same story occurs when a contract has already ended, but money needs to be paid for the player’s training until the age of 23 — the same amounts. Clubs are not willing to pay such money for a young, unknown player.

The head coach of „Olympik“ Roman Sanzhar and everyone else from the club wanted to see me with them. I trained with „Olympik“ for half a year, but they could not come to an agreement with „Shakhtar“. My worth was 10-15 thousand euros, but „Shakhtar“ wanted 300-400 thousand euros. At that time, no one wanted to go to court with „Shakhtar“, and it turned out that I could no longer get to either „Olympik“ or anywhere in Ukraine. So I accepted an option in Latvia, with „Spartaks“ (Jūrmala). Agents found this team for me, and the contract had the possibility to play without compensation. I don’t remember all the legal nuances, but this is the Higher League of Latvia and they could not pay „Shakhtar“. That’s why I went to Jūrmala,” — quotes Rusin as reported by “Ukrainian football”.