Ukraine manager Oleksandr Petrakov admits he’s concerned about Andriy Yarmolenko’s lack of game time at Premier League high flyers West Ham United, speaking to UA Tribuna.
With the Qatar World Cup now just ten months away, Petrakov has a problem. A big one.
A handful of his most important players are out of favour at club level.
And, unless something changes between now and the autumn, Ukraine may be jetting out to the Middle East with some of their star men desperately short of match sharpness.
Ruslan Malinovskiy is in-and-out of the Atalanta XI. Oleksandr Zinchenko remains a reliable, yet somewhat seldom-seen utility man at Manchester City.
Yarmolenko, meanwhile, has played just 88 minutes of Premier League football all season long, relegated to the fringes as another left-footed right-winger – the ever-improving Jarrod Bowen – goes from strength to strength in claret-and-blue.
Does Andriy Yarmolenko have a future at West Ham?
“Unfortunately, yes (our players aren’t featuring regularly),” says a concerned Petrakov.
“We see that Andrey Yarmolenko does not play. Zinchenko does not always play. Ruslan Malinovsky does not play.
“Of course, there are problems with this. But I hope that, during this month, the situation will improve. We are worried about them. The whole country is worried about them.”
The implication is clear.
Petrakov would love to see Yarmolenko escape the West Ham bench and join a club wiling to hand him a more regular role in the first XI.
Finding one, however, may be easier said than done. Not least because of his eye-watering wages.
Shevchenko was Yarmolenko’s coach at Euro 2020.
As it stands, however, it seems that Yarmolenko’s suitors are biding their time, waiting until the former Dortmund and Dynamo Kiev man is available on a free transfer in the summer.
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