Dynamo Kiev coach Emil Caras has played down reports linking Ukrainian defender Illlya Zabarnyi with a move to Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur, speaking to Sport Analytic.
It doesn’t take long to realise why a teenager with just two seasons of regular first-team football under his belt has plenty of admirers in North London.
Zabarnyi may be 19 years of age but he certainly doesn’t look it. The Dynamo Kiev academy graduate plays the game with a maturity and an awareness usually associated with defenders at the peak of their powers.
His reading of the game is very impressive. As is his positioning sense. Zabarnyi tends to put his 6ft 2ins frame to excellent use too, those rangy, telescopic legs the perfect tools with which to snatch back possession and put an early end to opposition counter attacks. Zabarnyi is two-footed as well, and has already has 22 caps for the Ukrainian national team.
What’s not to like?
Will Tottenham Hotspur bring in Illya Zabarnyi?
“I’d keep a little eye on him. I do know that Spurs are having a really good look at him as a potential signing, so maybe he’s the one,” reporter Alisdair Gold says on his official YouTube channel.
“I guess that if there was to be a surprise (signing), that would be the one.”
‘Surprise’ is not a word you could use to describe the reaction in Ukraine to Tottenham’s alleged interest. Dynamo Kiev will be fully aware that, as long as Zabarnyi continues to go from strength to strength, transfer rumours will never be far away.
“Zabarny, at 19, is already an adult footballer,” says Caras. “He lacks experience. He has only played at a high level for two years.
“(But) he is ready to play at the highest level. A lot depends on us, and a lot depends on the clubs that are interested in him. Today it is Tottenham, tomorrow (the media) will write something else.
“Now, it is the transfer window. They write a lot.”
The final piece in Spurs’ defensive jigsaw?
Tottenham have made a left-sided centre-half their top priority this summer but finding one is proving to be easier said than done. Zabarnyi might not be a natural left-footer but he certainly has the balance and the ambidexterity to slot in alongside Cristian Romero and Eric Dier in Antonio Conte’s preferred three-man backline.
“Zabarnyi is a good player,” says former Ukraine coach Yozhef Sabo
“I think he will be more expensive (than £25 million). It is clear that he is a great football player. (Dynamo Kiev) need to sell him. In a year or two, Zabarnyi will cost 50 million euros.”
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