The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 78 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
The clubs have shaken hands with Polissia; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Shakhtar have done the hard part with Metalist, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
20 goals in 23 games at Metalist — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Shakhtar updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gleiker Mendoza will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shakhtar the goodbyes have quietly begun.
$1.2M was the most the club would pay and LNZ 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.
Marlon Gomes 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
MatchAfter 8 games, Shakhtar finally taste it again
8 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.
First, on 78 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Alisson, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.40
A mark of 8.40 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Dinamo Brest had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shakhtar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Shakhtar have gone to LNZ 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.
Pedrinho 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Pedro Henrique had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Shakhtar have 7 straight wins of it.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A brace, and Prosper Obah takes the afternoon — 9.17
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Prosper Obah provided it, and the 9.17 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Shakhtar people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Crvena Zvezda moved on, Marlon Gomes reports back to Shakhtar, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
A season average of 7.38 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Shakhtar know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
The offer from PAOK for Marlon Gomes 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alisson provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Gleiker Mendoza had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Oleh Ocheretko provided it, and the 8.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alisson did not need any: 8.08, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
5 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.
Add another name to the list: Sparta Prague have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dmytro Riznyk. The answer from Shakhtar has not changed — yet.
Marlon Gomes 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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alisson did not need any: 7.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.76 for the rest of it.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Oleksandr Lomaha has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shakhtar 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 Dmytro Strilchuk 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. Eguinaldo 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.
18 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The offer from Twente for Eguinaldo 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 name of Pedro Henrique has come up in conversations Shakhtar were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Shakhtar had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alisson did not need any: 7.70, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Add another name to the list: Twente have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Eguinaldo. The answer from Shakhtar has not changed — yet.
Marlon Gomes 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.
In brief
SquadDenys Bida is a better footballer than he was
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Luca Meirelles’s exile
Successful dribbles: 38. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shakhtar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Shakhtar heard it as anything else.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Zorya; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
16 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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Newertton did not need any: 8.58, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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 the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Alan Matturro wants continental football; whether Shakhtar can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marlon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5‑0 against Olimpija Ljubljana, and a performance that will change how the rest of the competition talks about this club. Reputations in continental football are built in single evenings and this was one.
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alisson provided it, and the 8.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
3 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.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
A performance of 10.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Pedro Henrique was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.60. 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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Kolos tried to reorganise, Shakhtar did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
4‑3 against KAA Gent, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Newertton did not need any: 8.24, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Marlon Gomes 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Shakhtar can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Eguinaldo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.95. 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.
7 goals in one match, Eguinaldo on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Shakhtar and KAA Gent.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shakhtar can pretend not to have heard.
12 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shakhtar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Eguinaldo 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.
Three points for Shakhtar, 2‑0 the final word against Veres in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Dmytro Kryskiv was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.32. 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Eguinaldo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.35. 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.76 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lassina Traoré provided it, and the 9.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Up for the corner, and Marlon Gomes delivers — 7.98
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Marlon Gomes scored, was marked 7.98, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
A season average of 7.19 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Shakhtar know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
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.
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.
In brief
SquadMarlon falls out with a teammate over standards
The first defeat in 20 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Oleksandriya will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Shakhtar were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Eguinaldo provided it, and the 9.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Shakhtar may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Alisson, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.93
A mark of 7.93 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Prosper Obah was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. 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.
1‑0 against Austria Wien, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shakhtar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Up for the corner, and Marlon Gomes delivers — 7.85
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Marlon Gomes scored, was marked 7.85, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Shakhtar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A season average of 7.08 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Shakhtar know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
5 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.
Marlon Gomes 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 17 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.
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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Shakhtar. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
A 1‑0 win over Obolon, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Pedro Henrique was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.47. 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.
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. Shakhtar rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and Polissia had no answer to any of it.
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Shakhtar found something the first half had given no notice of, and Olimpija Ljubljana could not hold what they had.
Two goals and a mark of 8.33 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.15 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Marlon Gomes 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Eguinaldo provided it, and the 9.17 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alisson did not need any: 8.28, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
0‑0 against KAA Gent, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Pedrinho 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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 Shakhtar heard it as anything else.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 8 signed and 13 gone
That is the business done at Shakhtar 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 phone has started ringing about Kyrylo Fesiun again, and this time the name on the line is Cracovia. Shakhtar are listening politely and promising nothing.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Eguinaldo. 2‑0 against Zorya, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The offer from Legia for Eguinaldo 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 fee is $1.8M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Veres drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Kai Cipot has, at Shakhtar, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Veres have kept their man, and Shakhtar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Viktor Korniienko again, and this time the name on the line is Polissia. Shakhtar are listening politely and promising nothing.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 95th minute. UCSA will replay every second of the added time for a week.
6 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Kyrylo Fesiun had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Alisson, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.38
A mark of 8.38 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Eguinaldo provided it, and the 9.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shakhtar, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 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.
The offer from IF Elfsborg for Lucas Ferreira 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.
Shakhtar offered $1.7M; Karpaty 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.
3 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.
Marlon Gomes 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Shakhtar have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kauã Elias did not need any: 8.72, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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.
Shakhtar have gone to Karpaty 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.
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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kauã Elias did not need any: 10.00, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
17 seasons and 217 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
1 for Marlon Gomes, marked 7.44, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shakhtar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.