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The management of FC Arsenal Kyiv and the team have said they are united in their desire to save the club.

 The management of FC Arsenal Kyiv and the team have said they are united in their desire to save the club.

“A working group led by team captain Maksim Shatskikh has been formed, and it will analyze all aspects of the situation and take a respective decision by January 20. Arsenal’s administration and its players are united in their desire to save the club. Time will tell whether this happens or not,” reads a statement posted on the club’s official Web site on Thursday.

On January 10, the club’s management and players met at the club’s training base in the village of Schaslyve.

“The club’s management again described the situation in the club and outlined possible ways to overcome the crisis. It also announced additional circumstances that influence the development of the process. The club’s footballers were sympathetic to the current realities,” the club’s press service reported.

As reported, on January 8, Arsenal Kyiv President Vadym Rabynovych said that the club could cease to exist on January 20. He also said that on January 1 a contract was terminated by mutual agreement with Arsenal Kyiv coach Leonid Kuchuk, who took charge of Kuban Krasnodar on January 9.

“I have a lot of questions. All this time I was trying to figure out what’s going on in the club and with the club. As you know, after my election as co-chair of the European Jewish Parliament, I spend little time in Ukraine and work a lot in Brussels. Therefore, Arsenal’s administrative team was strengthened with several key figures, and now I’m trying to understand what was done in the club,” he said in an interview with MIGnews.com.ua.

He said he saw three possible options to resolve the problem: 1) to offer players to revise contracts, increase the presence of young players in the team and release about five high-priced players as free agents, 2) give the club to another owner by January 20 and to the team that will be able to resolve problems, 3) possible support from representatives of the Kyiv authorities, primarily administrative support.

Arsenal Kyiv is in eighth place in the current season of the Ukrainian Premier League.