You're reading: Akhmetov warns Argentinean and five Brazilian players over missing team flight to Ukraine

Shakhtar Donetsk’s billionaire owner and president Rinat Akhmetov said the six players who refused to fly to Lviv ahead of the July 22 Super Cup match with Dynamo Kyiv “will be the first to suffer.” 

Referring to the minimum release clause of their contracts,
which sets a minimum fee that a club must bid in order to be able to buy that
player, Akhmetov said each of them is worth “tens of millions of dollars.”

“If someone wants to reduce this amount by a million, then
such a decision is our right. There won’t be (a) clearance sale!” he said through the club’s website.

Brazilians Alex Teixeira, Fred, Dentinho, Douglas Costa, Ismaily and Argentinean
Facundo Ferreyra didn’t appear for the team’s Geneva flight to Lviv, following
their July 19 exhibition game with Olympique Lyon, presumably over the
political turmoil in Ukraine.

Their combined market
value is €57 million, according to transfermarkt.com.

“I don’t rule out that
these players will return to the team quickly, and some of them – tomorrow.
Players have contracts that they have to abide by,” added Akhmetov. “Hopefully,
the mind and heart will prevail over misunderstanding, and the players will not
follow temptation and fear…Especially since there is nothing to fear. We are
ready to provide security. We will not take risks and in any case we won’t
bring players to dangerous places.”

The team spent the summer training camp in Switzerland, but
their hometown of Donetsk is still occupied by Kremlin-backed separatists. Akhmetov
also hasn’t resided in Donetsk because of the Russia-instigated war as well.

He prefers the team play in Kharkiv during the upcoming
season if Donetsk is unsafe, according to the statement.

Ukraine’s soccer governing body is expected on July 22 to
approve this season’s playing calendar during an executive committee meeting.

Kyiv Post editor Mark Rachkevych can be reached
at [email protected].