The first vice-president of «Metalist» Yevhen Krashnikov commented on the transfer of 18-year-old Kharkiv club nurtured Hennadiy Synchuk to «Montreal» with the prospect of making it to the Italian «Bologna».
Yevhen Krashnikov (photo: scdnipro1.com.ua)— Yevheniy Oleksiyovych, you have known Hennadiy Synchuk for many years. What can you say about the development of this football player?
— At one time, the 2006 team was gathered by the coach of the «Metalist» youth football school Ihor Fedorovych Petrinchuk. At that time, these boys were around 6-7 years old, but it was immediately clear that there were many promising football players, including Oleksandr Tsvirenko, Daniil Vernatus, Danylo Kaidalov, Kyrylo Pashko, and many others.
One of them was Synchuk. I have known him since he was 6. Even then he stood out in terms of thinking, ball control, character, and work ethic. It was clear that this boy could grow into a serious player, and there was no doubt that he was a talent that needed to be developed. In due time, Sudakov, Mudryk, Lunin, Krytskyi also stood out — all of them are now playing in the Champions League and for the national team of Ukraine.
For many years, I closely followed all the graduates of «Metalist», but it was the 2006 birth year team that attracted the most attention. I am grateful to the coaches who worked with this generation — Ihor Petrinchuk, Vadym Kharchenko, Serhii Prokopov, Konstantyn Pakhomov, Ivan Panychyshyn, Andrii Kovali.
— As time has shown, the graduates of 2006 year started playing at the professional level quite early. Was this a forced measure on your part?
— When the full-scale invasion began, I realized that I had to give the boys born in 2006 a chance in the UPL youth team championship right now. It turned out that 16-17-year-old young men had to debut at the U-19 level and play against players 2-3 years older than them. And Kyrylo Dihtiary was only 15. The first half of that season was tough and I understood that, but the U-19 team performed very decently.
The debut season in the first league was also challenging for the boys, where they encountered a completely different game dynamic, other-level physical confrontations, and pace. But I saw that they were ready to play at this level despite their very young age. As a result, they made it to the championship group in their second season among professionals and continue to fight for promotion to the UPL.
This was clear confirmation that we accurately assessed the potential of the 2006-born players.
— How did Synchuk get into the U-19 national team when he was only 17? There are rumors that he was overlooked by the national team scouts.
— Myron Bohdanovych Markevych played a key role. Yes, he was indeed not on the national team lists. During the process of forming the current «Metalist» team, I communicated a lot with Myron Bohdanovych. When he became the head coach of «Karpaty», he immediately paid attention to several players, including Synchuk. We even negotiated with the «Karpaty» management, but we couldn’t agree on the transfer fee. Such things happen in football.
Later, during the trainings, we played against «Karpaty-2», which also had experienced players who were on trial. At that time, Volodymyr Yezeraskyi already worked at the Lviv club, who was then an assistant coach of the U-19 national team of Ukraine. Markevych told Yezeraskyi: «Volodya, pay attention to Synchuk, he will definitely help you».
Yezeraskyi was indeed impressed by Hennadiy's game and even during that game called Mykhailenko. Dmytro Stanislavovych watched the recording, reviewed the analytical data from Synchuk's matches, and very quickly called him up to the U-19 national team. What followed we all know well — Synchuk excelled in the Euro-2024 qualifiers, and then was one of the leaders of the national team at the European Championship itself, where our team made it to the semi-finals, and Hennadiy made it to the symbolic team of the tournament.
I want to emphasize that Hennadiy Synchuk is a very strong player who would have made it into the national team in any case. But thanks to Markevych, he started playing much earlier. I want to thank him, as well as Dmytro Mykhailenko and Volodymyr Yezeraskyi, who immediately recognized Hennadiy's talent and entrusted him with a place in the national team's starting lineup.
In football, one cannot predict the future, but I know that Synchuk is a talent multiplied by work ethic and character. Now everything depends on him. But he knows that my phone is always on for him.
