Why Yarmolenko Dynamo? A few pluses and a few minuses that Andrey can bring to the capital club

I don’t need to tell you who Andriy Yarmolenko was for Dynamo: 341 matches at all levels in 2008-2017, 137 goals. From “a boy from 130 kilometers” he reached the indispensable leader of Kiev. Leader so much that the young and certainly talented Tsygankov was forced to play on the opposite flank, which, according to the same Khatskevich, significantly reduced his effectiveness.

However, Yarmolenko six years later, what is he like? Are we to judge by the failed games of the national team in the summer of 2023 or by the best matches for Borussia and West Ham? Should we rely on the idea that Dynamo is a grand, and so it was, is and will be, should we consider that the growing promising team has received a playing assistant coach on the field?

Sport Arena analyzes the pros and cons of Andrey’s return.

For starters, the cons

Andrey Yarmolenko is an age player. He will turn 34 this fall. From here – at once two possible minuses.

• it can be traumatic – last season alone, he missed six Al Ain matches (and this at a much lower pace of the UAE championship compared to the European top leagues!). In less than four seasons at West Ham, Andrei missed 59 (!) Games. In one season in Borussia, he was on sick leave for 62 days – 12 matches, and how much younger Yarmolenko was five years ago!
• he may fall out of the style of a rapidly rejuvenating team – Dynamo said goodbye to Boyko in the summer, rumors are sent from the team of other age leaders. If Kiev continues the process of rejuvenation, will the age inverted winger play at the pace with the team, where speedy and straightforward youngsters will set the style?

Andriy Yarmolenko is a status player. The annual salary at West Ham (the peak of the career of a professional football player is precisely the Premier League) was 5.98 million pounds a year – we quote spotrac.com. In Al Ain, it dropped significantly (to 1.92 million euros per year according to theathletic.com). However, in the modern UPL, it is Andrey who has every chance of becoming the highest paid player. What follows from here?

• the difference in pay can lead to a deterioration in the atmosphere – according to numerous insider reports, Dynamo offered the players a pay cut in the summer, and here comes the player after the Premier League and the Oil League. As one joke said, “Let me see the SMS from your bank with one eye. I have enough motivation for the year ahead.”
• high expectations lead to high expectations – in Al-Ain, Yarmolenko scored 18 effective actions (12+6) in 33 matches of all tournaments, but the team lost the main titles, Andriy himself did not become either the league’s top scorer or the best assistant. Despite the fact that the result itself is good, the local press even criticized the Ukrainian – because there is a difference between what will be an excellent result for Pryadun from Metalist 1925, Klimchuk from Rukh, even some Rusyn or Guerrero – with what will be wait. in modern UPL from Yarmolenko MOST.

Andriy Yarmolenko is a player with a clearly defined role. At the beginning of his career, they saw him as a striker, Gazzaev (who believed that he discovered Yarmol) actually wanted to put him as a left back to replace Nesmachny, Semin sculpted him on the left in midfield. However, for ten years it has been quite obvious – this is a right inverted winger. And numerous attempts to put him in other positions, let’s be frank, were bad in terms of results and did not use even half of Andrey’s potential. Therefore, in Dynamo – do not be fooled by illusions – he will play exactly on the right in midfield. Hence, here is the problem.

Yarmolenko will push into the shadow of all available players who can play in the place of the right half – and among them there will be those who are considered to be promising. Let’s say Voloshin or Lednev could theoretically play the right winger – but are they in competition with Andrey? There are legionnaires Benito and Perris – one of them was recently signed, the other was extended. Finally, there is the wagon Karavaev, who today has every chance to sign a new agreement with Dynamo. That is, there are supposedly a lot of people quantitatively, but all of them definitely lose the competition to Yarmolenko. Of these, strictly speaking, this is not a problem for Karavaev – he will play on any flank anywhere. For Lednev, this is not a priority position. Voloshin can also be developed anywhere. However, what to do with the wingers Diallo, Benito and Perris, who not only will not always be in the starting lineup, but will not always fall into the reserve?

Andriy Yarmolenko has not played at home for six years. However, we saw him in the national team. And what we have seen lately is disturbing.

• he looked tired and physically exhausted in the June matches – Of course, the off-season is ahead, there will be a big gathering, but will it not happen that the 33-year-old veteran will have a hard time entering the first half of the season and until the height of autumn will resemble a “pale shadow” of himself, as in the matches of the national team?
• we rightly note that the UPL level has dropped a lot, but how did Andrey himself fall? Even Shevchenko himself, during the second coming of the season, never became the top scorer of the Ukrainian championship and scored four dozen goals in all tournaments in three seasons. Although, if you recall the mood of that time, he was predicted to have a “prefix at the easiest level of difficulty”, as Yarmole is now predicting.

We’ve covered the potential cons, but here are the pros:

Yarmolenko is a long-awaited loud star in our gray championship. Undoubtedly, Andrey’s first match upon his return will collect much better ratings than just Dynamo’s starting tour in the new championship. His appearance will raise expectations from the club itself and its confrontation with Shakhtar.

Andrey by his very presence will cheer up Dynamo players. Being a rather positive person and a conscientious professional, he will positively influence the youth and set an example of true sports performance. He will be drawn to those who also want to someday play in the Premier League and the Bundesliga, as well as aim at Shevchenko’s record in the national team. In the end, even some of the undisciplined old-timers will think 10 times, argue once again with the arbiter, or poke their heads into the forehead of an opponent provocateur, or drink / eat extra time when this cannot be done.

we don’t know how for European competitions, but for UPL Yarmolenko is an advantage. The Ukrainian Football Championship suffers from a lack of bright personalities, individually strong players, and brave dribblers. Players from nowhere easily attract attention after 3-5 rounds. If Andrey is not prevented by injuries, he will really make a difference in most matches of the season.

Yarmolenko will force us to follow the statistics again. There are many records and achievements that he can beat. The one that is there – in the very first match upon his return, he can bring the number of his goals in the Premier League to 100 (now he has 99). In almost every round, according to some parameter – the number of matches, goals, assists or trophies – Andrey will be able to overtake one of the legends in long-standing historical ratings.

in the home championship, Yarmolenko will definitely extend his longevity in the national team. In front of Rebrov’s eyes, in the tournament, there seems to be low competition, but competitive equality, it is easier to keep the tone and expect the coaching staff of the national team to follow this. This is not the UAE in this regard. And there we will remember Shevchenko’s record.

it could be a very beautiful, cinematic story – as the final three years of Shevchenko’s playing career, who arrived after a recession in Chelsea and Milan and came to a complete triumph with a double for the Swedes at Euro 2012. We do not know where all this will lead Yarmolenko, but it is generally accepted that after fourth place last season, Dynamo simply have nowhere to fall.

Yarmolenko can become a trigger for an impressive process. It was outlined with the return of Shved, Petryak and Mikhailichenko to Shakhtar, continued Yarmolenko in Dynamo, and next in line are Konoplyanka, Kharatin, Kovalenko, Ignatenko, and eventually Malinovsky himself. The return of the leading Ukrainian legionnaires, especially those who are unsuccessful in foreign championships, will become a powerful stream of transfer activity for our clubs in the next five years.

Dynamo can help Andrey smoothly find himself in football in a new capacity. All its legends know about this property of the club, it is not for nothing that Dynamo always has so many directors and their first deputies. Yarmolenko saw a lot in the Bundesliga and the Premier League, he has something to compare his own experience with. Those who came to the first roles in the club after Andrey can be sure that Yarmolenko, the sports director (well, for example), will be much more willing to sell them abroad. From my own experience, something will tell you, it won’t overdo it, it won’t bring down sports motivation. Let’s be honest – somewhere in the oil leagues, MLS or some other well-paid exotic, he could earn more, but Dynamo gives Yarmolenko a much better chance – to find himself in a new profession, reveal his abilities in managerial work, start a new life in football from a high start. A smart person understands that this is better than + 50% of situational earnings.