Evgeny “Jeka” Serdyuk became one of the main discoveries of the season in the Bulgarian “Parva Liga”
We somehow lost the habit of those times when Ukrainian forwards crushed European leagues, like Andriy Shevchenko in Serie A. Yes, and in the smaller championships, ours gave out top performances, becoming the top scorers in Georgia, Lithuania, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Hungary.
And now – a ray of light in the dark realm of domestic scorers-legionnaires. The Ukrainian striker is in the top three among the most productive players in the Bulgarian championship. A guy with an unusual fate, which is worth getting to know more seriously.
Twice migrant
Yevgeny Serdyuk himself is from Donetsk. When the occupation came to his small homeland, he moved with his family to Kyiv. Together with the most interesting children born in 1996-1999, he played for the amateur team Monolit (Kyiv). There, with a good young coach Ermakov, he quickly progressed.
The turning point for Zheka was 2016. Monolith then signed a memorandum of cooperation with the modest Portuguese club Fatima. In general, the Portuguese looked at many Ukrainian kids, but chose only two – midfielder Vlad Stramoukh, alas, subsequently got lost in the depths of Portuguese football. As a result, Serdyuk got the opportunity to play not only for the youth, but for the adult squad of Fatima.
Apparently, in a team led by Thelma Pinto, Zheka showed himself well – soon he was already playing for the first team. Coaches changed – Juan Bastos, Nuno Kata, Andre Luis, and Serdyuk made a name for himself in a year and a half in Fatima.
In 32 matches “Campeonato do Portugal” – the fourth local league – Zheka scored 17 goals. Another goal in three cup matches. Very good, as for a guy 20-21 years old.
In the footsteps of Atelkin
In 1997, Shakhtar had a notable hustle in European competition, knocking out the strong Boavista, but losing to Serie A representative Vicenza, who was going through better times. It was then that Donetsk forward Sergei Atelkin was spotted by Portuguese scouts, and, in transit through Lecce, they were invited to their place.
More than 20 years later, another native of the Donetsk region ended up in Boavista, but Zheka Serdyuk went on an even more intricate path. An immigrant from Donetsk, he settled into a modest Portuguese club and eventually rose to the invitation from Primeira.
Boavista, under the leadership of Lito Vidigal and Daniel Ramos, had a good selection of players – for example, Angel Gomes and Leo Jardim now play for Lille, Chidozier Avaziem got a job in the Turkish Super League money (Alanyaspor), Albert Elis got his chance in Bordeaux (and flew out with him from Ligue 1 together with our Ignatenko).
And most of these very high-status young players are just from the attack group! Unfortunately, the Ukrainian Serdyuk, who in Portugal was given an understandable “apodo” of Zhek, lost the competition next to these guys.
In Primeira, Eugene never played, eventually either playing for the Boavista team or going on loan. Serdyuk played 15 matches for the Casa Pia club from Liga Pro (an analogue of the Ukrainian First League – division 2), scoring three goals. It was clear that we needed to move on – and Zheka dared to change the country, environment and atmosphere again.
The Black Sea
Already in September, as a free agent, bypassing the deadlines of the transfer window, Zheka Serdyuk joined the Bulgarian club Cherno More. The head coach of the team is its eminent pupil – a participant in the 1998 World Cup as part of Bulgaria, a former Benfica player Ilian Iliev. This midfielder also played for Levski, AEK, Bursaspor, but spent most of his time in the Portuguese championship.
I knew this market and often pulled interesting young guys from there. In the Black Sea, Serdyuk found a real international – Bulgarians, Portuguese, Algerians, Brazilians, Croats, Guineans and even a guy from Martinique. The best players of the team are the young Bulgarian team-mate defender Viktor Popov, the promising Spanish centre-half Pablo Alvarez, the Macedonian defender Vlatko Drobarov, the experienced striker Matias Curer who passed Le Havre and Nantes.
All together, they made a splash in the Bulgarian League A, going even fourth in the regular season, and eventually finishing in fifth place.
But the main thing is Jack. In Bulgaria, even taking into account the galaxy of very bright local guys aged 19-23, they started talking about Serdyuk at the top of their voices. His personal figures are pretty cool – 12 goals and 2 assists in 21 matches for the Black Sea. He really became the leading player of his team and, according to various versions, got into symbolic teams and lists of the most promising players in the local First League.
Where next, Jack?
Serdyuk has a contract with the Black Sea until next summer. It is clear that the club, which revealed the young striker, expects to profitably sell him. If it were not for the war and hostilities, the Ukrainian championship would be very happy with a reloaded countryman.
There is a version – now Zheka is “led” by clubs from Poland and Hungary, he really wants to prove himself in Western Europe. In the end, in Bulgaria over the past ten years, the transfer record has been updated three times – moreover, they sold exclusively foreign players, and in the top leagues. In 2015, the defender of Ludogorets – the naturalized Brazilian Kaisara – joined Schalke in the Bundesliga, in 2017 – the Argentine center back Palomino moved from Ludogorets to Serie A (Atalanta), and winger Jonathan Cafu – from Ludogorets to Ligue 1 (Bordeaux).
The Black Sea itself willingly sells players abroad: only in the last two years, attacking havas Andrade and Milchev were attached to Karabakh and Apollo, and forward Minchev was acquired by Sparta Prague for 2 million euros. So far, this is the record of the club from Varna, but there is an opinion that some of the current squad can beat it. Let it be Zheka, and if it continues to progress, Sikan and Besedin will have to move on the bench of the national team. There are not so many bright scorers, even regardless of the level of the Bulgarian First League, so as not to rush to flirt with a newcomer for the national team.
Yaroslav Smelyansky
Source: Sportarena
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
