Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Philipp Simon will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kryvbas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Yvan Dibango was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Pikhalionok is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Yaroslav Shevchenko is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The chase for Baton Zabërgja ended with $1.2M changing hands and Metalist out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Denys Balan has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Kryvbas have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Feb 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Daniil Yermolov's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Assane Seck has his answer from Kryvbas; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Araujo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Pikhalionok is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Araujo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Pikhalionok is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Giovany Herbert has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhoel Maya is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.10 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
5 goals in 26 games at Probiy — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Kryvbas updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
A mark of 7.87 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The deal that would have taken Matvii Bodnar to Podillia has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Kryvbas with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Add another name to the list: Livyi Bereh have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Maksym Shpylka. The answer from Kryvbas has not changed — yet.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhoel Maya is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Volodymyr Mulyk is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kryvbas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kryvbas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Volodymyr Mulyk, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.69
A mark of 7.69 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 90 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kryvbas has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Giovany Herbert, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.77
A mark of 7.77 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Yvan Dibango was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Torena is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kryvbas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Matvii Bodnar, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.62
A mark of 7.62 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.