Pedrinho won’t be joining Premier League duo Wolverhampton Wanderers or Everton imminently with UOL reporting that the Shakhtar Donetsk winger has placed a move on the backburner until the summer.
Earlier this month, FIFA released a statement announcing that players contracted to clubs in Russia and Ukraine can break their contracts and join new clubs for the remainder of the 2021/22 campaign.
“Players and coaches will be considered out of contract until 30 June 2022,” reads the statement, via the BBC. “And will therefore be at liberty to sign a contract with another club without facing consequences of any kind.”
So far, a number of players have taken advantage of such an opportunity, as the Russia – Ukraine conflict escalates. Junior Alonso and former West Brom, PSG and Sevilla midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak departed Krasnodar this week.
Junior Moraes, meanwhile, left Shakhtar for Corinthians.
And, according to Gazeta Esportiva, fellow Brazilian Pedrinho could have followed in his footsteps. Everton and Wolves are looking to sign the tricky winger on a free transfer.
What next for Shakhtar Donetsk’s Pedrinho?
Interestingly, a move to Molineux would see Pedrinho reunite with Bruno Lage, two years after Benfica paid £18 million to bring him across the Atlantic.
But, according to UOL, a move to the Premier League is not under consideration as things stand. Not yet, anyway.
Pedrinho, and his representatives, would rather discuss a move in the summer, when he’d have a full pre-season to get used to life at a new club in a new country.
Even if Pedrinho did want to leave Ukraine for England, Premier League regulations would have made a move all-but impossible.
UOL claim that ‘the Premier League has decided not to accept FIFA’s position to open a special window for transfers’.
Pedrinho, then, is a no-go for now.
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