“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Viktor Tsukanov provided it, and the 8.03 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
12 goals and a season average of 7.37 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Yvan Dibango 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.
At 23 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.
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 footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Kostiantyn Hubenko has, at Kryvbas, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
“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.
Araujo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Yvan Dibango 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jhoel Maya 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.
Marked 8.35 — 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oleh Ocheretko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yvan Dibango 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 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.
“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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Three points for Kryvbas, 2‑0 the final word against Chornomorets in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad19 Nov 2029
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Oleh Malynovskyi and Kryvbas agree another 3 years.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Kyrylo Makarenko kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Yvan Dibango 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Kyrylo Makarenko left the room before anybody could ask which.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kryvbas, another week without a signature from Mark Golenkov.
17 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.
Bar Lin 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.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.94 beside his name.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yvan Dibango 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kryvbas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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.
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.
Yvan Dibango 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jhoel Maya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Oleh Ocheretko provided it, and the 8.52 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Kryvbas can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.40 — 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.
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kryvbas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Oleh Ocheretko provided it, and the 8.52 beside his name is if anything generous to 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 Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Yvan Dibango 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.
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kryvbas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jhoel Maya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
58 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.
“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.
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 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
Jhoel Maya was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.37. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
16 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.
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 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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Yvan Dibango 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.
“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.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Kyrylo Makarenko chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Nobody at Kryvbas will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jhoel Maya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Kryvbas will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kryvbas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Viktor Tsukanov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 10 arrived, 11 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Epicentr moved on, Ruslan Buriak reports back to Kryvbas, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Viktor Tsukanov 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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yvan Dibango 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Oleksandriya have kept their man, and Kryvbas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Kryvbas will try again when the window opens; Vorskla may not be selling by then.
The words a physio says slowly. 89 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.
“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.
Match29 Aug 2029
Vitaliy Burda wins it after the whistle should have gone
114 minutes played. Vitaliy Burda found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Feniks went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Viktor Tsukanov again, and this time the name on the line is Esteghlal Khuzestan. Kryvbas are listening politely and promising nothing.
Kryvbas have gone to Vorskla 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.
Viktor Tsukanov 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
98 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kryvbas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Kryvbas hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Kryvbas had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Estudiantes, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chornomorets have kept their man, and Kryvbas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Dudarenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kryvbas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Kryvbas can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Oleksandr Roshchynskyi has just signed for Kryvbas, and for once the answer mattered.
114 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.
“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.
Kryvbas have gone to Vorskla 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Bar Lin 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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Yvan Dibango 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 words a physio says slowly. 121 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.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Denys Zhdanov is living that version at Kryvbas, and it tends to show in the first month.
$1.0M on the table at Chornomorets. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Kryvbas had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ajax, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
128 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kryvbas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Add another name to the list: Obolon have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mykyta Turbaievskyi. The answer from Kryvbas has not changed — yet.
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
Kryvbas had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Estudiantes, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Kryvbas asked and Chornomorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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. 135 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Viktor Tsukanov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Viktor Tsukanov is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The deal with Estudiantes is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Epicentr will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Stepan Hryhorashchuk has pre-agreed a move to Kryvbas, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Union Berlin have kept their man, and Kryvbas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
144 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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
Kryvbas asked and Lanús said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Union Berlin have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
In brief
The dugoutYvan Dibango has become a man the manager trusts
151 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kryvbas people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ivan Serediuk is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Gorica have kept their man, and Kryvbas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 159 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.
The offer from Saipa for Viktor Tsukanov 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.
“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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
Kryvbas asked and Panserraikos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The offer from Obolon for Mykyta Turbaievskyi 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.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AEK keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Oleksandriya have kept their man, and Kryvbas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kyrylo Kovalets 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.
Nobody at Kryvbas will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Ruch had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Viktor Tsukanov 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Kryvbas can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Viktor Tsukanov 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Yvan Dibango 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kryvbas, another week without a signature from Viktor Tsukanov.
Nobody at Kryvbas will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Kryvbas would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
The name of Viktor Tsukanov has come up in conversations Kryvbas were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Maksym Hryso and Kryvbas agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kyrylo Kovalets 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 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.
Nobody at Kryvbas will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Kryvbas have had the benefit of it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mark Golenkov has just signed for Kryvbas, and for once the answer mattered.
Viktor Tsukanov 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.
Squad28 May 2029
Yvan Dibango 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Dmytro Myshniov 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Kryvbas hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Yvan Dibango is on it.
“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.
66 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
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.
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.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Kryvbas the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Roman Pidkivka are not good
Bar Lin 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.
Squad7 May 2029
Yvan Dibango 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.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Kryvbas. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A decision that decides nothing on the pitch and everything in the room. The manager has said, without saying it, whose voice he wants heard when his own is not there.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kryvbas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Viktor Tsukanov 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Yvan Dibango 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.
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 Viktor Tsukanov is on it.
27 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.
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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oleh Ocheretko, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kyrylo Kovalets 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.
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 Yvan Dibango is on it.
Position 4, 66 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oleksii Khakhliov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
34 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.
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 is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Kryvbas can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oleh Ocheretko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kryvbas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Viktor Tsukanov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kryvbas, another week without a signature from Kyrylo Kovalets.
Nobody at Kryvbas will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Joseph Jones trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kryvbas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kryvbas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Kryvbas hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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 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.
26 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Viktor Tsukanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Yvan Dibango 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.
Nobody at Kryvbas will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Position 4 on 66 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Dynamo Kyiv; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kryvbas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Yvan Dibango 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.
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.
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 Giovany Herbert is on it.
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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kryvbas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Volodymyr Makhankov and Kryvbas agree another 3 years.
Viktor Tsukanov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kryvbas asked and Olimpia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Kryvbas will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“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.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Kryvbas until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Gimnasia y Tiro keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Viktor Tsukanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yvan Dibango 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Oleksandriya have kept their man, and Kryvbas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A loan enquiry to Zbrojovka Brno: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oleh Ocheretko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
8 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Kryvbas heard it as anything else.
7 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
6 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Viktor Tsukanov 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yvan Dibango 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Union Berlin have kept their man, and Kryvbas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kryvbas, another week without a signature from Viktor Tsukanov.
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.
“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.
Viktor Tsukanov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kryvbas asked and Manchester United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Oleh Ocheretko provided it, and the 8.45 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Illia Karavashchenko 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Oleh Ocheretko. 3‑1 against Kudrivka, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Kryvbas asked and Charleroi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
21 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Oleh Ocheretko provided it, and the 8.48 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Oleh Ocheretko wants continental football; whether Kryvbas can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nazar Popov 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.
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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Harvey Broad has just signed for Kryvbas, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Kryvbas have had the benefit of 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jhoel Maya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Faustino Barone provided it, and the 8.76 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yvan Dibango 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.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.34 — 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.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
Bar Lin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Yvan Dibango 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Nobody at Kryvbas will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Oleksandriya next, and one man in the Kryvbas dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Bar Lin 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.12 — 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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Faustino Barone provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Kryvbas heard it as anything else.
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.
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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yvan Dibango 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 8.19 — 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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Faustino Barone. 1‑0 against Polissia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad27 Nov 2028
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 7.74. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Kyrylo Makarenko kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
Bar Lin 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yvan Dibango 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oleh Ocheretko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Polissia next, and one man in the Kryvbas dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Oleh Ocheretko wants continental football; whether Kryvbas can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Araujo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Yvan Dibango 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 5 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
A 3‑1 win over Kolos, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
A brace, and Assane Seck takes the afternoon — 7.89
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Assane Seck provided it, and the 7.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
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 23 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.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Yvan Dibango 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.
Bar Lin 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Yvan Dibango 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Viktor Tsukanov 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.
A performance of 8.43 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Kyrylo Makarenko kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutYvan Dibango has become a man the manager trusts
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.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Kryvbas and Kudrivka in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Marked 9.51 — 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Kryvbas has been clear about where Oleh Ocheretko stands, which is more than many ever get.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Veres scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Yvan Dibango 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Volodymyr Vilivald and Kryvbas agree another 4 years.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Oleh Ocheretko. 1‑0 against Karpaty, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.28 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jhoel Maya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
95 minutes played. Faustino Barone found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Shakhtar went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“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 is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Kryvbas can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Faustino Barone 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.
Kryvbas close the window on a squad of their own making
26 in and 7 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Marked 8.16 — 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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Roman Volokhatyi obliged against Feniks. 3‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Kryvbas.
Two goals and a mark of 8.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
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 19 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ivan Serediuk is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Araujo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Yvan Dibango 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
“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.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something 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 Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Faustino Barone, and the manager let it.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Bar Lin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.38. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
Player ratingsOleh Ocheretko was on a different afternoon to everybody else
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Volodymyr Makhankov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The offer from Bukovyna for Maksym Shpylka 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.
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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The offer from Bohemians 1905 for Volodymyr Makhankov 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Volodymyr Rudiuk is living that version at Kryvbas, and it tends to show in the first month.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yvan Dibango 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Ruch had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The phone has started ringing about Viktor Tsukanov again, and this time the name on the line is Esteghlal Khuzestan. Kryvbas are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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.
Yvan Dibango 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jhoel Maya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
The fee is $210.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Metalist drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutViktor Tsukanov has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Roman Pidkivka
“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.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
$220.0K was the most the club would pay and Kudrivka were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kryvbas have gone to Vorskla 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.
The offer went to Metalist 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.
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.
Add another name to the list: UCSA have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nazar Popov. The answer from Kryvbas has not changed — yet.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Jhoel Maya 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.
“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 offer went to Kolos 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Serhii Lebediev is living that version at Kryvbas, and it tends to show in the first month.
The chase for Mykyta Turbaievskyi ended with $770.0K changing hands and Zorya 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.
$48.0K on the table at Kudrivka. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The fee is $61.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. UCSA drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yvan Dibango 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.
“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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Oleksandr Myziuk has, at Kryvbas, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
$770.0K on the table at Zorya. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oleh Ocheretko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
66 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.
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.
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.
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.
75 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.
Araujo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Yvan Dibango 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.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Eduard Sydorchuk has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Oleh Makarenko is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ihor Tymoschuk has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vitaliy Shakhov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
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 footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Oleksii Serdiukov has, at Kryvbas, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
Vorskla will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Vladyslav Voitsekhovskyi has pre-agreed a move to Kryvbas, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Nobody at Kryvbas will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Serhii Davydov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Kryvbas will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Volodymyr Makhankov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kryvbas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Araujo 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yvan Dibango 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.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Desley Ubbink 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Volodymyr Makhankov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Roman Volokhatyi is on it.
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.
23 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Kryvbas can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Yvan Dibango is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Yvan Dibango 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.
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 words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
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.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
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.
“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.
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kryvbas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Araujo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yvan Dibango 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Kryvbas told Dmytro Plakhtyr something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ivan Serediuk has, at Kryvbas, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Yvan Dibango 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kryvbas, another week without a signature from Oleh Ocheretko.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Kryvbas will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Illia Karavashchenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kryvbas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vladyslav Tsymbalistyi and Kryvbas agree another 4 years.
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 Viktor Tsukanov is on it.
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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Oleh Ocheretko wants continental football; whether Kryvbas can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Araujo 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Yvan Dibango 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Kryvbas are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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 Roman Volokhatyi is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ivan Kononykhin 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.
Metalist will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Dawid Polkowski has pre-agreed a move to Kryvbas, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Kryvbas asked and Wolfsberger AC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Kryvbas will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Kryvbas has been clear about where Illia Karavashchenko stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Kryvbas heard it as anything 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 Kryvbas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Gorica have kept their man, and Kryvbas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Kryvbas will try again when the window opens; Obolon may not be selling by then.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oleh Ocheretko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
Transfer targets28 Feb 2028
$200.0K settles it between the clubs for Taras Liakh
Obolon have accepted the money. What Kryvbas do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Illia Karavashchenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kryvbas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yvan Dibango 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.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Bohdan Boichuk 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Boca Juniors have kept their man, and Kryvbas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 40 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
The fee is $6.4M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Shakhtar drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nea Salamis have kept their man, and Kryvbas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Jhoel Maya 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.
The deal with Gornik Zabrze is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Araujo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Kryvbas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yvan Dibango 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.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
91 minutes played. Shakeone Satchwell found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Epicentr went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Kryvbas have gone to Shakhtar 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Epicentr waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Kryvbas is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Yvan Dibango 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.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Yurii Radulskyi 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Metalist have kept their man, and Kryvbas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 23 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.
“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.
Everything agreed with Chernihiv, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zorya have kept their man, and Kryvbas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Kryvbas will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Volodymyr Radulskyi and Kryvbas agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yvan Dibango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Kyrylo Makarenko to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at Kryvbas will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Kolos next, and one man in the Kryvbas dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.