Mykola Kukharevich started very brightly in Lviv Rukh, but the period in Troyes and Leuven called into question the progress of the striker of the Ukrainian youth team
When Rukh intercepted the most promising young forward of Volyn, it was interesting. When he was recognized as the best player of the Lviv club, it was funny. When he was acquired by a club from the City Group, which includes – for a second – Manchester City, it was really cool.
Now the 20-year-old striker is at a crossroads in his career – he played just nine games without scoring last season, a loan to a more modest club in a more modest league did not help his breakthrough.
We are talking about the unsuccessful experience of European integration of Mykola Kukharevich to try to figure out how to reset one of those young strikers from whom Ukraine has been waiting a lot in recent years.
Rukh is Movement
Kukharevich played for himself in the youth team of Volyn, perhaps waiting for the same fate as Prindeta, Teterenko, Dudik and other “stars” of the Kvartsyany club. Volyn is a master at presenting a player vividly, but, you see, not everyone eventually grows up to the level of Luzhny, Tymoshchuk or other bright players with the Volyn (Lutsk) quality mark.
On the way Kolya found the right agents who were able to turn the usual course of things. Kukharevich ended up in Rukh, where he improved his class in a year and a half, scored 4 goals in 24 matches and earned a call-up to the Ukrainian youth team.
Rukh and Kozlovsky cannot be denied, in the positive sense of the word, PR talent. They started talking about Kukharevich very quickly, there were rumors that foreign scouts appeared at matches with his participation, and at the end of March 2021 the guy was sold (which is especially important for Lviv) to a foreign club.
City Group is not only Manchester
It is difficult for oneself to realize the scale of the activities of the City Group holding, owned by the Emirati Sheikh Mansour bin Syed Al Nayan. Together with their partner Khaldun Al Mubarak, they proved that the Arab management of a European football club can be not only wasteful, but also efficient. Together they took Man City to the top clubs. Together they founded the City Group, which includes dozens of companies and sports clubs around the world.
City Group now is Manchester City, New York City, Melbourne City, Yokohama Marinos, Montevideo City Torque, Girona, Sichuan June, Mumbai City, Lommel, Troyes. England, USA, Australia, Japan, Uruguay, Spain, China, India, Belgium, France. A very large list of trophies in different countries of the world and international competitions. An even larger list of stars signed by clubs from the City Group.
One of them, Troyes, acquired Kukharevich for 250-300 thousand euros in the spring of 2021. For FC Rukh (Lviv) it was the first international transfer in the history of the club.
Troyes pioneered at Rukh
Kukharevich’s contract with Troyes came into force on the day of the 20th anniversary of the Ukrainian striker. It is symbolic, but also significant – at this age, players come already formed, ready to make a difference. Especially if we are talking about legionnaires.
Kukharevich, by that time, had behind him two incomplete seasons at the adult level – exclusively in his native country.
“Negotiations on my transfer lasted a long time and finally it happened. I am very interested in what will happen next. I expected this transfer, because it will radically change my life. I also understand that I am stepping forward, reaching a new football level, to which I have been striving to reach for a very long time.“, – Kukharevich admitted then.
His new club in parallel for the first time since 2015 and for the second time in history became the winner of the French Ligue 2 – which, by the way, Rukh failed to do in the Ukrainian First League. But they connected Kolya to the case only since the summer – and, perhaps, this made it more difficult for him to adapt to a new country and championship. After all, you must admit, it is easier to start from League 2 (especially when your team is the favorite there) than from League 1, where your team is a novice.
However, Troyes has its own success story. This club has adapted and brought to a new level of skill such players as Patrice Loko, Jerome Rotin, Mamadou Niang, Bafatemi Gomis, as well as world champions Djibril Sidibé and Blaise Matuidi. Just in time for the acquisition season of Kukharevich, Troyes became part of the City Football Group.
The prospects seemed very bright. In fact, Kukharevich failed, and not only because of his own fault.
Development cannot be outpaced
Troyes met Kukharevich hospitably – in the very first official match, he felt for himself what PSG with Mbappe, Wijnaldum, Navas are. His team, thanks to an early goal from El-Hadjam, continued to lead in the lead, but goals from Hakimi and Icardi turned the score in favor of the favorite. In the 80th minute, the head coach Battle released Kolya instead of forward Tuzgar to save the game, then he also updated the attack, but failed to recoup with 16 thousand spectators. Two weeks later, Kuharevich came on as a substitute in a 1-1 draw in Strasbourg. What the head coach Troyes saw (or not) in 13 minutes in two substitutions is a mystery. It remained out of the view of the cameras. However, in the end, Kolya was shown the door – for rent.
Oud Heverle from Leuven — the middle peasant in the Belgian championship. Finished the season in 11th place. It seemed like a good opportunity for a young footballer to show himself. But here, too, Kolya stalled – six matches in the championship and one in the cup, only at the beginning of performances and at the end he ran into the base. Experienced coach Mark Brice relied on the Ghanaian striker Sori Kaba, rented in Midtylland, in the attack. The 27-year-old tenant became the team’s top scorer, but where is the younger Kukharevich? In a rotation with rare exits to the field.
This happened to the most gifted football players. The main thing is whether the player is able to draw conclusions from bad experience, learn and improve himself. Now, as before, everything depends on Nikolai Kukharevich himself. This is something that no one will do for him, he himself must learn to swim in this rough water.
And yet the question is whether he was right about a year and a half ago when he refused the giant Zhupile League, where he later ended up as a loan player from one modest club to another?
New challenge
So was Kukharevich right, having already successfully passed a medical examination, refusing Anderlecht? It’s hard to say for sure here. On the one hand, the all-rounder Makarenko completely failed in the Brussels Grande, and now the flank speedster Mikhailichenko is only looking for himself – both with an education in Dynamo, not like the “nugget” Kukharevich.
On the other hand, a very young Oleg Yashchuk once moved from the Ternopil Niva to Anderlecht, refusing Dynamo. And, despite the injuries, he spent almost ten good years in this club, although he did not realize his health and a third of his talent.
Now Kukharevich continues to belong to Troyes. At the end of this month, his loan in Leuven will end, and the question will be – what’s next?
Troyes finished 15th among 20 participants and remained in Ligue 1. Has Kolya become stronger, more status, or something, in order to count on success on the second attempt? Judge the coaches. As always, there remains the option of returning to the Lviv Rukh, which just broke up with Kondrakov. Troika Boryachuk – Kukharevich – Klimchuk (Boychuk) can be very hurricane-like. If Kolya receives and sells this lease, home and family, we will get a very solid forward who can make a difference.
In terms of potential, Kukharevich is a “little Lewandowski”. Perfectly coordinated, able to cover the ball with his body and shoot from an uncomfortable position. Such a guy is rare in the Ukrainian championship. For Rukh, who has already had a taste of success in the U19 championship, Kukharevich could be a big difference in matches with contenders for a place in the top five. Therefore, we carefully predict that in the summer the name of Kukharevich will come up in the press and he will receive a very promising lease, in which he will be able to make significant progress in his game.
Igor Dashkov
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.
