Following in Tyson’s footsteps. Who else can leave Shakhtar in the near future?

The other day in Ukrainian football, it was loud: Shakhtar Tyson’s long-term leader made it clear in an interview with the Brazilian press: he will leave the club in the summer of 2021, when his contract expires. No, the Brazilian did not discover America with these words. Tyson’s desire to return to his native “International” was discussed above, but there has never been such a categorical and detailed response “on the subject” from the player himself.

Another thing is also interesting: Tyson admitted that Shakhtar had offered to think about extending the cooperation. Rumor has it that the Pitmen are even keen to improve the current conditions, already quite “sugary”, just to save the seasoned Brazilian for a couple of seasons. But, apparently, this time, the footballer is still determined to return to Brazil. There, the fans of Internacional already openly laugh at him, to whom Tyson promises to return for several years, and then repeatedly renews his contracts with Shakhtar. If, after those interviews, the winger decides to stay in Ukraine, he runs the risk that, as they say in diplomatic circles, they will not shake hands.

However, Tyson is far from the only footballer who can leave Shakhtar in the next two transfer windows. The point is that, while the main opponent of the Pitmen, Dynamo Kiev, was diligently re-signing the contracts with the leaders (Mikolenko, Shaparenko, Tymchik, Popov, Sirota, Supryaga and Andrievsky received new agreements), the Donetsk team It has yet to solve a number of similar problems. … Right now, Shakhtar is at risk of losing eight players at once, whose labor agreements expire in less than a year …

Andrey Pyatov, 36 years

Played for Shakhtar since 2007
Played 463 games for the Pitmen
The contract expires on December 31, 2020 (hereinafter, Transfermarkt data)

The next personnel problem to be solved by Shakhtar’s leadership is the future prospects at the club of experienced goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov. The goalkeeper’s current contract with the Pitmen is calculated until the end of this year, but objectively another option, except the conclusion of a new contract, in this situation can hardly be expected. First of all, despite all their faith in Trubin, Shakhtar have yet to prepare an equivalent replacement for the 36-year-old veteran and it will therefore be an inadmissible luxury to say goodbye to him, and even in the middle of the season. Second, Pyatov himself is unlikely to find better working conditions anywhere than in Shakhtar camp, where he has been for nearly 14 years.

TYSON, 32 years

Played for Shakhtar since 2013
Played 281 games for the Pitmen (53 goals, 78 assists)
Contract expires on June 30, 2021

We already talked about Tyson in the preview, so we will not repeat now. The importance of this footballer to today’s Shakhtar is extremely difficult to overestimate, even despite the apparently mature young growth in the person of Manor Solomon. The Israeli is not yet ready to play multiple matches in a row at a consistently high level and therefore the Pitmen remain highly dependent on Tyson in attack. But the most unpleasant thing about this situation will be the fact that the experienced Brazilian will leave the club as a free agent, although last summer Shakhtar had concrete proposals for Tyson for an amount close to 20 million euros … having received that amount of money, the people of Donetsk could well reinvest them in the conditional Tete, and not seek reserves in the club’s budget, which will probably have to be drawn on in the future.

Nikolay MATVIENKO, 24 years

Played for Shakhtar since 2017
Played 85 games for the Pitmen (4 goals, 3 assists)
Contract expires on June 30, 2021

Mykola Matvienko, a Shakhtar academy graduate in the Pitmen’s first team, was in fact called up to fill the void created after Yaroslav Rakitskiy’s departure. It cannot be said that the young bek brilliantly managed to cope with this task, because there have been many mistakes by Matvienko lately, but now it is Nikolay who is one of the most promising central defenders with a Ukrainian passport. This is doubly valuable for Shakhtar in terms of the limit of foreign players, and therefore it is possible to understand the logic of the club’s management, which refused to negotiate Matvienko’s transfer. Another issue is that, without reaching an agreement on the sale of the defender, the Pitmen have not yet agreed to a new contract with him. The departure of a footballer like Matvienko as a free agent next summer will undoubtedly be a heavy blow for Shakhtar, and not just for the staff, but also for the image.

Maxim MALYSHEV, 27 years

Played for Shakhtar since 2015
77 games played for the Pitmen (7 goals, 1 assist)
Contract expires on June 30, 2021

Once upon a time, experts rightly called Malyshev the direct successor to Taras Stepanenko’s Pitmen. Maksym started well on the Shakhtar field: a tough and uncompromising defensive midfielder not only did not allow the opponent’s attackers to roam, but also, due to the good feeling of the teammates and the interaction with them, found ways for the qualitative development of attacks from your computer. However, on the way to Malyshev’s bright future at Shakhtar, there were sudden injuries. Recently, Maksim is almost the main guest of the Pitmen club infirmary, and most fans have probably already forgotten that this player has a contract at the Pitmen camp. Next summer, Malyshev’s contract expires and, perhaps, in this situation, the parties should not discuss its extension: Shakhtar, it seems, can get a second Vitsenets in the team, but for Malyshev, the probable departure of Pitmen Pitmen’s field can serve as a reason to restart your career. elsewhere, as happened before, for example, with Chygrynskiy.

Sergey BOLBAT, 27 years

Played for Shakhtar since 2015
Played 56 games for the Pitmen (3 goals, 6 assists)
Contract expires on June 30, 2021

Serhiy Bolbat probably would have had no prospects in Shakhtar’s first team if Mircea Lucescu had continued to mentor Pitmen. This player’s opportunity at Pitmen’s field was given by Paulo Fonseca, whose experiment with Bolbat’s transfer to the right flank of the defense continues, in fact, to this day. In the middle lane, it is difficult for Sergei to win the competition not only against Tyson or Marlos, but even against Solomon and Tete, much younger and inexperienced, and therefore the defense position is a sure salvation for Bolbat in the Shakhtar . Another thing is that the Ukrainian did not manage to re-profile himself completely. In his game, there is a clear inclination towards attack, but defensive skills do not lend themselves to much progress. Yes, we can say that Bolbat has already won Butko’s competition for a place as a reservist for Dodo, but it is important to understand what the player’s ambitions are for the future and Shakhtar’s own vision of this situation. If the current state of affairs suits all parties, it is likely that closer to the end of the contract it will be extended without external problems.

Victor KOVALENKO, 24 years

Played for Shakhtar since 2015
Played 192 games for the Pitmen (30 goals, 12 assists)
Contract expires on June 30, 2021

Former Shakhtar head coach Mircea Lucescu once called Viktor Kovalenko a key player for the future of the Ukrainian national team. Then the Romanian coach criticized Paulo Fonseca for allegedly “killing Kovalenko’s career”, but in fact, with the Portuguese, Victor clearly progressed, which still cannot be unequivocally said about the period of work under the leadership of Luis Castro. Several of the latest transfer windows in various media outlets actively courted Kovalenko to Italy (they say Fonseca was not averse to working with Viktor in Rome again), or to Turkey, but it turned out that such information did not have a solid foundation, because it was based on allegedly the end of the midfielder’s contract with Shakhtar in June 2020. It was subsequently known that Kovalenko’s employment contract with the Pitmen expires in June 2021, and the club appears to be working on its extension, but has not since results have been achieved. Kovalenko may not be a cornerstone in the Donetsk team’s tactical and personnel structure now, but his departure as a free agent, again, at least from the image side, will have negative consequences for Shakhtar.

Viacheslav CHURKO, 27 years

Has been in the club system since 2007
He did not play a single game for the Pitmen first team
Contract expires on June 30, 2021

It’s hard to believe, but Vyacheslav Churko, once considered a very talented attacking midfielder, still has a contract with Shakhtar. He spent the last three years on loan at Mariupol, but this fall he returned to the Pitmen field, and was even included in the application for the season to participate in the UPL and the Ukrainian Cup. Obviously, in the next transfer window, Shakhtar will look for a new club for Churko, and if this fails, it is possible that the cooperation between Donetsk and Vyacheslav by mutual agreement ends even long before the official expiration of the previously prescribed terms …

DENTINO, 31 years

Played for Shakhtar since 2011
Played 169 games for the Pitmen (24 goals, 13 assists)
Contract expires on June 30, 2021

Once the King of Soccer Pelé himself predicted a great future for Dentinho, but as a result, this player’s train at one of the stations went off the track … In 2013, the Shakhtar management tried to give a boost to the Dentinho’s career sending him on loan to Besiktas, but this did not lead to the expected results. In 2016, the Pitmen extended the contract with the Brazilian for another five years, but that decision was obviously caused by fears over the personnel situation, since after the outbreak of the war in Donbas, the Shakhtar did not take several years to acquire new players. At 31 years old, Dentinho continues to be a great reservist for Luis Castro’s team, and for that reason, objectively, already next July (ideally even earlier, to help at least some funds from the sale), Shakhtar will have to say goodbye to this Brazilian. Another question is that Dentinho and his family are completely satisfied with everything in Kiev, and for the Pitmen he is valuable in a different role: an experienced Brazilian has a docile character and a good disposition, which allows him to easily sponsor young compatriots recruits. . helping those to adapt to Ukraine as soon as possible. In this regard, it will come as no surprise that Shakhtar and Dentinho agree to extend their cooperation for at least a couple of seasons.