Marked for Ihor Zelinskyi
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Aug 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. LNZ have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad21 Aug 2028
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.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
Paul Loundjeu: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” LNZ have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market21 Aug 2028
The bid was some way short and LNZ did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
Prykarpattia wanted more than $350.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Market21 Aug 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. LNZ have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Tedi Cara falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
LNZ asked and Nyva said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Aug 2028
A falling-out at LNZ
Paul Loundjeu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
In brief
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The dugout
Ajdi Dajko gets it from the manager
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Squad
Too much change too quickly at LNZ
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Market
Oleh Horin told to find a new club
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Aug 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. LNZ have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.91, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
A brace, and Muharrem Jashari takes the afternoon — 8.24
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Muharrem Jashari provided it, and the 8.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market14 Aug 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. LNZ have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market14 Aug 2028
The fee is $290.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Metalurh Zaporizhzhia drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Match12 Aug 2028
Epicentr made LNZ work for it, but the scoreboard read 5‑3 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Match12 Aug 2028
8 goals as LNZ and Epicentr go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between LNZ and Epicentr, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad14 Aug 2028
A move Kristian Svystun would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Kristian Svystun is living that version at LNZ, and it tends to show in the first month.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Aug 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. LNZ have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match5 Aug 2028
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad7 Aug 2028
A fracture rules Ihor Zelinskyi out for 40 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason LNZ will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market7 Aug 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout7 Aug 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” LNZ may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Up for the corner, and Denys Kuzyk delivers — 7.98
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Denys Kuzyk scored, was marked 7.98, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Shakhtar is saying, and nobody at LNZ is enjoying the guessing.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Muharrem Jashari did the work nobody counts — 7.78
16 combined actions and 7.78. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
The offer went to Metalurh Zaporizhzhia this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Jul 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around LNZ people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad31 Jul 2028
47 days out for Ihor Zelinskyi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. LNZ will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match29 Jul 2028
6 matches without a win for LNZ
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around LNZ are no longer polite ones.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
Dmytro Ledvii: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” LNZ have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad31 Jul 2028
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
Zorya wanted more than $3.2M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Market31 Jul 2028
Klayver hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what LNZ can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
LNZ asked and Inhulets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $3.4M — a club that wants Danyil Alefirenko enough to be asked twice.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Jul 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around LNZ people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad24 Jul 2028
A fracture rules Ihor Zelinskyi out for 56 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason LNZ will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market24 Jul 2028
Ajdi Dajko has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around LNZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market24 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
LNZ have gone to Zorya with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market24 Jul 2028
The fee is $880.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Dynamo Kyiv drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at LNZ
Oleksandr Drambaiev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Prykarpattia wanted more than $280.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad24 Jul 2028
A row about effort at LNZ
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tedi Cara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Feb 2027
Ihor Zelinskyi damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market22 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. LNZ have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market22 Feb 2027
Zorya pay $1.2M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Market22 Feb 2027
Shakhtar paid $1.2M and LNZ took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Market22 Feb 2027
LNZ get their man
The chase for Pavlo Orikhovskyi ended with $300.0K changing hands and Feniks out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at LNZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shota Nonikashvili 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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at LNZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Feb 2027
Ihor Zelinskyi damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
Terms done: Ajdi Dajko is going
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Probiy waiting with a shirt. Nobody at LNZ is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A falling-out at LNZ
Oleksandr Drambaiev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market15 Feb 2027
The name of Jewison Bennette has come up in conversations LNZ were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Poltava have kept their man, and LNZ go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match13 Feb 2027
Three points for LNZ, 2‑1 the final word against Rukh in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at LNZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Baton Zabërgja 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. LNZ will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Feb 2027
Ihor Zelinskyi damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
Chastening afternoon for LNZ
A 0‑4 beating by Kolos was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market8 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. LNZ have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market8 Feb 2027
The bid was some way short and LNZ did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market8 Feb 2027
The fee is $430.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Veres drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
LNZ have gone to Feniks with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad8 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at LNZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market8 Feb 2027
Shakhtar paid $560.0K and LNZ took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.