Artem has eight games in the youth team and one match for the U-19 team.
Team coach Ukraine U-19 Dmitry Mikhailenko commented on the information about the potential change of citizenship of the Bayer player – Ukrainian Artem Stepanov.
“I heard this a long time ago from various sources – that whether Stepanov wants to play for the German national team, or the Germans themselves want to naturalize him, but this is not a question for me.”
“Yes, he was called up for all age categories. Stepanov is a player of the Ukrainian U-17 national team, and the only question is: does Artem himself have the desire and motivation to play for Ukraine. choice, and we cannot put pressure on it. Maybe he already feels like a German.”
“Now the Germans are in a better situation than us to put pressure on Stepanov, because Artem lives and plays in Germany, his father got a job at Bayer. There is nothing holding them in Ukraine, there is a war going on here.”
Artem is a Shakhtar graduate who moved to the Leverkusen club in the summer of 2022. In January 2024, his contract was extended until the summer of 2027. Last season Artem played for Bayer U-17. Since this summer, the Ukrainian has already been tearing apart his division as part of the U-19 team – 16 matches, 11 goals, four assists.
At the end of August, Stepanov was included in the first team of Bayer for the first time – in a cup match against Carl Zeiss (1:0). Several times the Ukrainian found himself on the bench in Bundesliga matches, but Artem has not yet appeared on the field in the championship.
Last month, the forward made his debut for Bayer in the Champions League (in a match with Salzburg – 5:0), setting several age records.
For the Ukrainian U-17 national team, Artem scored six goals in eight matches. And in September, the striker made his debut for the Mikhailenko team in a sparring with Switzerland (1:2).
Bayer are in third position in the Bundesliga after 12 rounds.
Source: Sportarena

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