Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nəriman Axundzadə 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.
Andrii Klishchuk 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jota Pereira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Oleksandriya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 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.
Oleksandriya asked and Nyva said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrii Klishchuk and Oleksandriya agree another 2 years.
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.
“Ask me in the summer. I will know before anybody else does.” He is 35 with 361 appearances behind him, and Oleksandriya have to plan for both answers.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Mamelodi Sundowns keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Oleksandriya asked and Monza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Oleksandriya close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 1 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.
Nəriman Axundzadə 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Serhiy Buletsa 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Vadym Sydun is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Nobody at Oleksandriya 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.
“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 Oleksandriya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Oleksandriya offered $1.5M; Metalist said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olimpia is saying, and nobody at Oleksandriya is enjoying the guessing.
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. 7.99 beside his name.
Oleksandriya asked and Karpaty 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 Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The fee is $190.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Feniks drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Oleksandriya people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Oleksandriya and Feniks have settled on $190.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The offer went to Bukovyna 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.
Jordan 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nəriman Axundzadə 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. Dynamo Kyiv have kept their man, and Oleksandriya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Bram van Driel has, at Oleksandriya, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 94th minute. Kudrivka will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dorin Man. 2‑1 against Kudrivka, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Yurii Kopyna 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Taras Matvienko could afford to be generous.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nəriman Axundzadə was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.68, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Nəriman Axundzadə has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Obolon? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
It 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.
Successful dribbles: 33. 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.
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
A brace, and Ostap Prytula takes the afternoon — 8.19
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ostap Prytula provided it, and the 8.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Dorin Man, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.92
A mark of 7.92 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Oleksandriya and Polissia, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nəriman Axundzadə. 4‑2 against Polissia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jordan wants continental football; whether Oleksandriya can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Nəriman Axundzadə 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Viktor Dolhyi is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jordan 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 8.02 — 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Successful dribbles: 39. 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nəriman Axundzadə provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
2‑3 to Karpaty, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nəriman Axundzadə 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.
“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 dugout28 Dec 2026
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 2‑3 Taras Matvienko left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad28 Dec 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Oleksandriya man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Nəriman Axundzadə was the best thing in any 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 Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Oleksandriya and Zorya in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jordan 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.
LNZ left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yurii Kopyna 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.” Anton Zadereiko and Oleksandriya agree another 3 years.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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 Taras Matvienko left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A Oleksandriya teenager takes the young player award
Dorin Man is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Zorya next, and one man in the Oleksandriya dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Oleksandriya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Oleksandriya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nəriman Axundzadə 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.
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.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Oleksandriya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nəriman Axundzadə 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 Jordan 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 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Dorin Man 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Taras Matvienko to a room that had heard them before.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Serhiy Bolbat has his answer from Oleksandriya; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Fernando Henrique signs something — a contract at Oleksandriya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Serhiy Bolbat trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Andrii Klishchuk 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.
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.
It needed Mateus Amaral to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Veres, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Taras Matvienko was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Oleksandriya dressing room was either.
Metalist next, and one man in the Oleksandriya dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Oleksandriya 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 Oleksandriya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nəriman Axundzadə 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 Jordan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Half the programme played, position 12, 15 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
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.
0‑7 to Shakhtar, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
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.
Nəriman Axundzadə 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Oleksandriya and Shakhtar, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Yurii Kopyna 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.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Oleksandriya dressing room in a hurry
SquadOleksandriya are still strangers to each other
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nəriman Axundzadə was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A point taken on 90 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
In brief
Looking aheadA test against the best for Oleksandriya
Successful dribbles: 47. 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.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya 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 Nəriman Axundzadə was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Epicentr defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Dynamo Kyiv next, and one man in the Oleksandriya dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Oleksandriya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Nəriman Axundzadə 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.
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 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Epicentr in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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 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.
18 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 afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jordan 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.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Taras Matvienko to a room that had heard them before.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Oleksandr Kozak’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Oleksandriya needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Successful dribbles: 37. 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.
Red Bull Salzburg wanted more than $7.3M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Oleksandriya had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Flamengo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Nəriman Axundzadə and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jordan 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.
Oleksandriya asked and Panathinaikos 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
In brief
Looking aheadThe leaders are next for Oleksandriya
$7.3M on the table at Red Bull Salzburg. 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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ramik Hadzhyiev did not need any: 8.22, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 24 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Oleksandriya offered $120.0K; Zorya said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
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.
$6.0M was the most the club would pay and San Jose Earthquakes 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.
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.
Oleksandriya had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Cortulua, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oleksandriya 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Apollon have kept their man, and Oleksandriya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Yurii Kopyna has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The offer went to San Jose Earthquakes 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Club Brugge is saying, and nobody at Oleksandriya is enjoying the guessing.
Chornomorets wanted more than $160.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Yurii Kopyna 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 comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Oleksandriya have paid $1.0M for Ramik Hadzhyiev, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Apollon is saying, and nobody at Oleksandriya is enjoying the guessing.
Oleksandriya have gone to Chornomorets 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 Zorya 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.
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.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $2.9M has been paid because Jordan is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Fernando Henrique 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.
$58.0K on the table at Epicentr. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Oleksandriya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yurii Kopyna 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Haladas 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 Oleksandriya 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 Fernando Henrique was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Oleh Pikhalyonok has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nazariy Rebrov 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. Taras Kocherhin is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jhonnatan provided it, and the 9.05 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Yurii Kopyna 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.
Oleksandriya asked and Veres 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 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 21 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.