Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matvii Bodnar 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kryvbas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kryvbas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Kryvbas has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Kryvbas that is a harder question to answer.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Jesús Molina’s negotiating for him
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matvii Bodnar 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kryvbas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kryvbas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Kryvbas that is a harder question to answer.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kryvbas can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kryvbas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Polissia moved on, Oleksii Sydorov reports back to Kryvbas, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Kryvbas are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kryvbas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kryvbas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kryvbas can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tymur Butenko. 2‑0 against Oleksandriya, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kryvbas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kryvbas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matvii Bodnar 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kryvbas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Shots: 7. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.23, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matvii Bodnar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kryvbas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kryvbas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Kryvbas know it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kryvbas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
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.
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Kryvbas know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yvan Dibango signs something — a contract at Kryvbas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
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.
Marked 8.92 — 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.
Marked 8.24 — 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.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Kryvbas dressing room in a hurry
Maksym Zaderaka 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Kryvbas are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Obolon? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yvan Dibango signs something — a contract at Kryvbas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Maksym Zaderaka 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.
Marked 8.82 — 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Volodymyr Makhankov and Kryvbas agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Maksym Zaderaka 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.
The name of Volodymyr Mulyk has come up in conversations Kryvbas were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yvan Dibango signs something — a contract at Kryvbas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
The offer from Livyi Bereh for Matvii Bodnar was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
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.
Add another name to the list: Probiy have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Joseph Jones. The answer from Kryvbas has not changed — yet.
The offer from Probiy for Joseph Jones was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
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.
A season average of 7.06 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Kryvbas know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Maksym Zaderaka 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vitalii Dakhnovskyi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yvan Dibango signs something — a contract at Kryvbas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Maksym Zaderaka 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.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Kryvbas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Maksym Zaderaka 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.
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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Kryvbas are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
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.
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.
7 goals in 17 games at Livyi Bereh — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Kryvbas updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Shots: 8. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 13 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
A season average of 7.20 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Livyi Bereh know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Livyi Bereh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.45 — 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Livyi Bereh pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Maksym Zaderaka 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.
The chase for Nazar Baida ended with $120.0K changing hands and Metalurh Zaporizhzhia out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The name of Volodymyr Mulyk has come up in conversations Kryvbas were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Shots: 16. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Maksym Zaderaka 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kryvbas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Livyi Bereh will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Andrii Yakymiv 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.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Livyi Bereh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 2‑1, and it was Diego’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Livyi Bereh.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
559% of the income goes out in wages at Livyi Bereh
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Maksym Zaderaka 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.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Livyi Bereh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Maksym Zaderaka 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.
Sidnney 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.
Marked 8.17 — 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.
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.
Marked 8.31 — 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Oleksii Sydorov.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Livyi Bereh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
711% of the income goes out in wages at Livyi Bereh
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Marked 8.06 — 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Livyi Bereh know it.
Daniel Orduz 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.
Sidnney 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Kryvbas, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Shots: 10. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kryvbas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Livyi Bereh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
1290% of the income goes out in wages at Livyi Bereh
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Marked 8.31 — 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.