Roman Petrenko analyzes whether the 21-year-old defender will be able to win a place in the starting lineup of the miners.

After the departure of Marcio Azevedo to the Greek PAOK, the return from the lease of the perspective left lateral Nikolay Matvienko became a logical decision of the coaching staff of the Miner. Having spent the first half of the season in Vorskla, the 21-year-old universal defender will now try to win a place on the left brow of Donetsk from the venerable Brazilian Ismaili. Let us analyze the main aspects of this transition.

Progress In both the Carpathians and Vorskla, Matvienko was on loan, and during the time of appearances in the Premier League he significantly improved his skills. This prompted Andriy Shevchenko to entrust him, who is very little known at the time to the player, the most important position of the left-back, and from the first matches, Nikolai began to justify the trust of a mentor. In the Lviv club defender, as they say, "obbilsya" on a serious level, and often got in all sorts of combined tours. And quite often Matviyenko pleased the Galician fans with assists, and his main functions performed almost exemplary. In Vorskla, the player's rapid progress continued. Nikolai from Basil Sachko from the first matches received a huge credit of trust, and the fact that the Poltava players for the winter break went to third place in the standings, undoubtedly, it is worthy to credit the young football player. By the way, for the calendar year Matvienko, only in the Premier League, as part of two "white-green" teams, played 30 fights in which he scored one scored goal. The indicator, as for the debutant of the elite, is very impressive!.

Competitor Certainly, the presence of Ismayil, who is in the prime of life, makes us think about the expediency of returning Matvienko already here and now. Of course, if the Brazilian was halfway out of the team, such a step would be regarded as quite understandable and not devoid of logic. However, without Ismaili to date, the composition of the miners is very difficult, and Nicholas will have an unequal battle for a place under the sun. However, considering the universality of the 21-year-old football player, there is an option that a pupil of the Donetsk Academy will come in handy for Fonseca in another role. For example, in the center of defense, where due to injuries of the main performers, Shakhtar repeatedly had holes in the composition. Even came to the point that Tarasu Stepanenko had to go out on the unusual position of Centrbek. For Matvienko, the same place in the center of defense - not so alien. In the academy and the double of miners, he repeatedly played in this position, and sometimes - very successfully. But still, Nicholas probably sees the reservist Ismaili. And although the chances of the Ukrainian immediately to secure a place among the first eleven seem to be frankly low, in the future the 21-year-old player, provided that he has a proper attitude to the training process, is able to move the Brazilian lateral from a violent place.

Minus for the national team Obviously, even taking into account all the strengths of the young native Sak, Ismaili in Shakhtar is in the status of one of the leaders of the team, and so Nicholas will obviously be assigned the role of understudy. That's only for the national team of Ukraine, in which, under Andriy Shevchenko Matviyenko - a hundred percent player of the basis, this state of affairs will have a negative value. Of course, underestimating the possibilities of a 21-year-old football player is not worth it, but Paulo Fonseca, if he goes for point changes in the composition, then only in the most, that, on there, exceptional cases. This may be either Ismaili's injury, or his departure to one of the top leagues of Europe, or, which is unlikely, the Brazilian's loss of the game form. In addition, the 31st number of Donetsk residents is only 27, and, of course, no mention of any change of generations in the position of the left-right is a question of close.

Meanwhile, even such an option is possible that in Shakhtar there will be just two left-backs of the Ukrainian team. Rumors about the naturalization of Ismail go for a long time, and, not even an hour, a qualified football player, like team-mate Marlos, will try on a yellow-blue T-shirt of the main team of Ukraine. In this regard, Matvienko's prospects are again seen as highly questionable. At the moment, the disposition is such that Nicholas will receive playing time in less significant matches from the tournament standpoint, but in fact, given the minimum handicap between Shakhtar and Dynamo, none of those in the spring is expected at all. However, in modern football all the logic comes, first of all, from economic levers, and the contract of the Ukrainian defender, whatever one may say, belongs to the Donetsk club. In this light, the leadership and coaching staff of miners are reasonably right to act in such situations at their own discretion, regardless of the interests of the national team and even the player. And yet we hope that the return of a talented pupil will help both the club and Matvienko himself, and Ukrainian football will only benefit from this.

Author: Roman Petrenko.