Marked for Oleh Stepanenko
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Apr 2031
Xavi Simons 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 Shakhtar can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Marian Faryna breaks a bone — 18 days out
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.
Squad21 Apr 2031
A falling-out at Shakhtar
Pedro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market21 Apr 2031
The phone has started ringing about Lassina Traoré again, and this time the name on the line is New York City. Shakhtar are listening politely and promising nothing.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
When it matters, Xavi Simons 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.
Loan watch21 Apr 2031
7 shut-outs in 25 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Alessandro Longoni has been having a lot of them.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oleksandr Kemkin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
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.
Market21 Apr 2031
The name of Oleksandr Saputin keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Shakhtar say nothing, which says plenty.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Mar 2031
40 days out for Marian Faryna after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Shakhtar will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market31 Mar 2031
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” IF Elfsborg had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Shakhtar may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Ivan Pakholiuk 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.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Oleksandr Saputin 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 dugout31 Mar 2031
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 dugout31 Mar 2031
“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.
Squad31 Mar 2031
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Shakhtar will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Market31 Mar 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Mykola Matviienko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market24 Mar 2031
“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 Shakhtar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Mar 2031
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” New York City had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market24 Mar 2031
Shakhtar say no — this time
The offer from HJK for Beni Makouana 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.
Squad24 Mar 2031
A falling-out at Shakhtar
Pedro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market24 Mar 2031
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Shakhtar heard it as anything else.
Squad24 Mar 2031
International break empties Shakhtar
7 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Ivan Pakholiuk 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.
Loan watch24 Mar 2031
“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 Shakhtar, and 2 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
Xavi Simons gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Xavi Simons is on it.