The head coach of "Epicenter" Serhiy Nagornyak highly assessed the potential of one of his team’s competitors in the fight for promotion to the UPL at the end of the current season in the First League - Kharkiv’s "Metalist 1925".
Serhiy Nagornyak— Who do you consider your main competitor for one of the two coveted passes to the UPL?
— All seven teams that are with us in the Championship group are very worthy competitors. You understand, the distance in the spring part of the championship is very short, not 15-16 games, but only eight.
But, I won’t lie, considering the transfers that are already known, given the funding, "Metalist 1925" looks very strong. I don’t know exactly what its budget is, but I assume it is somewhere at the level of the top four clubs in the UPL.
— "Metalist 1925" is a separate conversation, for me their fall to the First League was a clear surprise. And yet, let’s go through all seven teams in the Championship group.
— All competing teams can give us a run for our money. The last team in the Championship group, "Bukovyna", for example - believe me, they also dream of the UPL. There is an ambitious project there. And they currently trail us by only nine points.
YUKSA is gradually strengthening, "Poltava" has retained all its leaders. "Metalist" is a very ambitious and young team. There is also a serious approach to the matter. What can I say, if they sold their player in the winter for five million (referring to Hennadiy Synchuk, who moved to Canadian Montreal, - ed. note). The transfer of Synchuk is truly a cool indicator of their management's work. A compliment personally to Yevhen Krasyuk (the first vice-president of "Metalist", - ed. note).
I personally really liked Synchuk too. In general, the Kharkiv team currently has quite a few good young performers, not spoiled by money.
Viktor Glukhentiy
