Ivan Bahrii

Attacking Midfielder (R) - Free Agent
4 Jul 2028
Tuesday
Process

Marked for Ivan Bahrii

88 Edition

The Metalist Chronicle

3 Apr 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Metalist refuse to drop out of the race

Position 3, 57 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.

Market

Danylo Kanevtsev is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Metalist is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at Metalist

Vinicius Tobias 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Metalist

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Peter Itodo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Hristo Ivanov wants to go home

“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 Metalist know it.

The dugout

Oleksandr Yatsyk gets it from the manager

“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.

Squad

Peter Itodo makes the team of the month

Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

The dugout

When it matters, Jaynilson Geoffery plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

A door opens for Diego

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

In brief

Back issues
71 Edition

The Metalist Chronicle

6 Dec 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The dugout

Danylo Kanevtsev: 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.” Metalist have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Tempers go at Metalist

Vinicius Tobias 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.

Squad

Ermir Rashica 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.

The terraces

Metalist supporters have found a favourite in Ermir Rashica

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ermir Rashica 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.

Match

Metalist find a way past LNZ

LNZ made Metalist work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

One of those days for Ermir Rashica

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

The dugout

No hiding place for Oleksandr Yatsyk

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oleksandr Yatsyk, and the manager let it.

Squad

A place in the month's best eleven for Oleksandr Martyniuk

Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Oleksandr Martyniuk has come out of that comparison in the side, and Metalist have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.

The dugout

Heorhiy Sobol: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.

In brief

57 Edition

The Metalist Chronicle

30 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Metalist march on in the cup

Feniks are out and Metalist go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

The dugout

Vinicius Tobias: 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.” Metalist have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Yevhen Pavliuk asks to leave Metalist

“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.

Player ratings

Ivan Bahrii could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.30

Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.30, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Viktor Dolhyi

Metalist and Oleksandriya have settled on $590.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Jaynilson Geoffery at 21 — 7.67

The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jaynilson Geoffery did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Squad

A falling-out at Metalist

Vinicius Tobias and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Peter Itodo 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 targets

Västerås SK tell Metalist: Karl Gunnarsson is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

In brief