Maryan Shved is closing in on a move to Ukrainian giants Shakhtar Donetsk just one year after he left Scottish Premiership champions Celtic, as reported by Belgian publication Gazet van Antwerpen.
There’s a player in there.
It’s easy to forget, when you consider how things went for Shved at Parkhead, that he arrived to rather lofty expectations in January 2019. This was a player who had scored 15 often spectacular goals in just 26 games during his final season at Karpaty Lviv, with some suggesting at the time that he could fill Patrick Roberts’ boots in green-and-white.
And not even the most pessimistic of Celtic supporters would have believed that Shved would be on the move again just two-and-a-half years later; After three games and just 40 minutes of football in Hoops colours.
Maryan Shved bounces back from Celtic disaster
In truth, the writing was on the wall from day one.
“We’ve got about a million wingers and don’t need another one,” coach Brendan Rodgers told The Sun prior to Shved’s £2 million arrival; Hardly a ringing endorsement.
It’s a credit to Shved’s resilience, then, that he’s bounced back from a spell that would have destroyed the confidence of lesser men. According to GVA, the now KV Mechelen ace is on the verge of joining Shakhtar Donetsk; The pinnacle, as far as Ukrainian footballers are concerned, and a move that Shved would not have imagined in his wildest dreams when he was the forgotten man of Glasgow.
“Marian didn’t want to play today, because he wants to make a transfer,” Mechelen coach Danny Buijs said after Sunday’s thrilling 5-4 victory over Westerlo.
Ukrainian champions 13 times since the turn of the century and regulars in the Champions League; Shakhtar once again have a seat reserved for them at Europe’s top table. There is a chance, then, that Celtic and Shved could be reunited in the group-stages between now and Christmas.
Bouncing back in style
“It’s clear he has a lot of talent,” Ukraine legend Andriy Shevchenko said back in 2019. “There is still work to be done, but he has progressed hugely.
“He has just made a very big transfer for a massive club like Celtic. And he is motivated to show them what he can do when he goes to Scotland.
“There’s no doubt he has improved a lot and he will go on to be a big player for Ukraine.”
Shved’s Celtic spell proved to be little more than a forgettable footnote on his CV. But, three years on, Shakhtar Donetsk are offering the winger another chance to prove he belongs at such a level. A chance Svhed will be desperate to take.
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