Zabarny’s transfer to Bournemouth was a surprise. But this is a step forward for a Ukrainian

On the last day of the winter transfer window in Ukrainian football, another big event took place – Dynamo Kyiv defender Ilya Zabarny moved to Bournemouth. The transition of a young Ukrainian to an English club came as a surprise, because several factors are surprising in this transferov — the readiness of Igor Surkis to sell one of his best and talented players, the speed of negotiations between the clubs and the choice of the Ukrainian in favor of one of the outsiders of the English championship.

The winter transfer window of 2023 will definitely go down in the history of Ukrainian football in terms of the number of large transfers to the top European championships. First, Mikhail Mudrik, after long and tedious negotiations, ended up in Chelsea for incredible money, then Viktor Tsygankov became a football player in Girona, and now Zabarny joined the ranks of Ukrainians who will play in the English Premier League. In addition, one should not forget about Sergey Krivtsov, who became player of Inter Miami, as well as Nikolay Matvienko – Shakhtar’s central defender this winter was really close to leaving for Brighton.

#️⃣2️⃣7️⃣ pic.twitter.com/jjJDab3xFp

— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) January 31, 2023

Dynamo lost its two leading players in one month, but if Tsygankov was the team leader for several years and deserved to be promoted for a long time, then Zabarny only recently became the main player in Kiev, despite his young age. The President of Dynamo seems to have done some work on the mistakes and decided not to keep one of his talented football players, as was the case with Tsygankov. According to various sources, the people of Kiev will receive about 25 million pounds for Zabarny, and 20% of the possible future sale of the Ukrainian is prescribed in the agreement. This is a good and record deal for Dynamo, which finally sold their player on time and for great money.

The history of Zabarny can be an excellent example for many Ukrainian football players, because at the age of 18 Ilya managed to break into the Dynamo first team and immediately became its key player. Of course, the main role in such a rapid rise of the Ukrainian was played by Mircea Lucescu – the Romanian mentor of Kiev in his first season at the club did not invite a new central defender, but made a bet on the young Zabarny and did not lose. It was under the leadership of Lucescu that Ilya made his debut in the white and blue, then there were the first matches in the Champions League, a call to the Ukrainian national team, a victory in the UPL and the Ukrainian Cup, playing for the national team at the European Championship.

Such a rapid progress of the Ukrainian defender could not go unnoticed by well-known European clubs, because Zabarny proved to be excellent both in matches for Dynamo and for the Ukrainian national team. The central defender became the leader of the defense of Kiev, showed a mature game beyond his years, was reliable and disciplined. Therefore, it is not surprising that over the past two years, many English clubs have begun to show interest in Ilya, among which Manchester City and Tottenham were even named. But the Ukrainian received a real opportunity to leave for the Premier League only now.

This time, Igor Surkis really deserves to be praised, because he chose the right moment to sell the Dynamo main squad player. The president of Kiev had the opportunity to bargain for a long time, because Zabarny’s contract with the blue and white was calculated until 2026, and next summer the Ukrainian would also have excellent chances to leave for some European club. But Surkis decided to sell Ilya this winter, having received the first serious offer for the Ukrainian with favorable conditions for himself.

The current season is developing for Dynamo, to put it mildly, very difficult, the team flew out of European competitions, and in the Ukrainian championship is still far from fighting for first place. Many players from Kiev frankly disappointed in the first part of the season, and Zabarny can also be attributed to this cohort of players. The 20-year-old defender has made more mistakes and hasn’t looked as confident as in past seasons, though he has remained an undisputed starter with 25 appearances in all competitions this campaign. There was a real risk that, playing at the level of the current Ukrainian championship, Ilya might simply stop progressing and waste the next six months. And it is far from certain that next season Zabarny would have had the opportunity to reassert himself at the Champions League level.

The modest English Bournemouth went to Dynamo with a specific proposal and, after not the longest negotiations, managed to reach a compromise with the people of Kiev. For Vishen, the transfer of Zabarny is a great success, because the Premier League club managed to get one of the most talented and young central defenders in Europe, who can be considered not only as a strengthening of the squad this season, but also as a possible player for sale in the future for much more money. Interestingly, Ilya was the second most expensive acquisition in the history of Bournemouth, after the Colombian Jefferson Lerma, for whom the club paid 27 million pounds.

Bournemouth has definitely never been the ultimate dream for a football player of the Ukrainian national team and it is unlikely that at the beginning of this year Ilya saw himself in a Cherry T-shirt. The team spends the first season after returning to the elite of English football and runs the risk of being relegated to the Championship at the end of the season. Already after the fourth round of the championship of England, Bournemouth dismissed Scott Parker as head coach and now the team is headed by Gary O’Neill, who faces a very difficult task to keep the Cherries in the Premier League. Speaking quite frankly, in terms of personnel potential, Bournemouth can be safely called the weakest team in the English championship and almost the main contender for a relegation.

Signed, sealed, delivered 🍒 pic.twitter.com/KffmWhKONg

— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) January 31, 2023

This is the case when the choice of a particular club and its place in the standings were not the determining factors for a football player, but the main thing was the desire of Zabarny himself to leave Dynamo and get a chance to play in the top championship. Moving to any club in the English Premier League is a step forward for the Ukrainian, which will allow him to grow in terms of play and demonstrate his qualities on a completely different level. Therefore, a successful game as part of the Vishens may well open the way for Zabarny to a more ambitious and status club.

In Bournemouth, the Ukrainian will have practically no time to adapt, because O’Neill will probably give Ilya playing time from the first matches and make him a player in the team’s starting lineup. Zabarny managed to play several control matches for Dynamo at the training camp in Turkey, which means he is in good shape, albeit not in his best condition. This could be a definite problem for the Ukrainian defender, who will have to face incredible intensity, high speeds and world-class opponents from the first matches.

The Cherries have been undefeated for seven consecutive matches in all competitions and are only 18th in the Premier League standings. The ‘good’ news for the team is that they have been knocked out of the domestic cups, so Bournemouth can now focus exclusively on the Premier League, which will see them face a very tough fight for survival in the second part of the season. This winter, in addition to Zabarny, the club signed winger Dango Ouattara from Lens, striker Antoine Semenho from Bristol and rented Roma left-back Mathias Vinho, as well as midfielder Hamed Traore from Sassuolo, and such an increase should certainly help the team stay in the Premier League for at least another one season.

There really are no star or truly titled players in Bournemouth, and Ilya’s competitors in the central defender position will be Chris Mepham, Marcus Senese, Lloyd Kelly and Jack Stevens. This season, the Vishen’s coaching staff does not have a stable pair of center backs, Mepham and Senesi played more often than others in defense, and in some matches the team even entered the field with three central defenders. Therefore, it is not surprising that the club was in search of a new quality center back, who right now will be stronger than the existing performers.

A possible relegation will be a common story for Bournemouth, but should not be a tragedy for Zabarny personally. Not every Ukrainian 20-year-old football player moves to England and is ready to immediately play successfully at the Premier League level. But even playing at the level of the harsh English Championship with a large number of matches, Ilya will have much more opportunities to prove himself than in the Ukrainian Championship and rare European cup matches. Playing in the second most important English division, Zabarny will be able to gain experience and really get used to the local style of play. In addition, we can not discard the option that over the next six months in the Premier League, he will be able to attract the attention of the best teams in the championship of England.

Zabarny’s transfer to Bournemouth once again confirmed the demand for Ukrainian football players on the European market and the readiness of top championship clubs to make offers and negotiate on them. The Ukrainian defender is already ready to play in a stronger team that sets itself serious goals and wants to fight for high places in a particular league. But the age and time for progress quite allow the ex-football player of Dynamo to start my a foreign career from a modest Premier League underdog in which he will almost certainly play a lot and often.