Kiev owner: Everton bid came too late

31/08/2015

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Dynamo Kiev supremo Igor Surkis says that he can't lose Blues target Andriy Yarmolenko before the transfer deadline and risk his team's Champions League campaign without having a replacement lined up.

There are conflicting claims regarding the exact timeline of Everton's negotiations with the Ukrainians, with most sources suggesting that a £14.25M bid had been agreed between the two clubs prior to the home game with Manchester City.

According to quotes from the Kiev side, however, Surkis is now asserting that Everton only started really demonstrating they were serious 5 days ago.

It's the latest twist in a saga that has been opaque throughout and has involved reports of bids from Barcelona (denied by the player), Borussia Dortmund (€15m supposedly rejected by Surkis this weekend) and now Liverpool (€20m, not corroborated), not to mention comments attributed to manager Sergiy Rebrov who said a new contract for his prized player was possible.

Though the goalposts seem to have moved a lot, particularly when Surkis stalled on the deal saying he needed time to think further (presumably through hesitation over selling a key member of his team who could help get Dynamo out of the Champions League group stage), the Ukrainian club's owner seems to have closed the door entirely on the 25-year-old moving before the deadline.

"Everton began REAL negotiations with me only 5 days ago. How can I sell Yarmolenko and put my team in a difficult position?" Surkis is quoted as saying by the Weekly Futbol show on Football 1 TV in Kiev.

"Should I sell Yarmolenko and see my team humiliated in the Champions League? I don't want that.

"With Yarmolenko we have a great chance of having a great Champions League season.

"If Everton came to me early in the transfer window, I would have sold Yarmolenko. The price is right, all the details are right.

"I was satisfied with Everton's offer. I would've sold him if Everton came earlier in the transfer window."

The Futbol Ukraine twitter account that has been tracking the story's chicanery concluded with its own prediction that if Yarmolenko traveled to Ukraine's training camp this afternoon (which did), it effectively rules out him changing clubs until January at the earliest.

Surkis left the door open to another Everton bid in January, however, particularly if his club do not qualify for the group phase.

"If we are out of the Champions League in the winter Yarmolenko will be on offer. I will let him leave the team but I will try to restrain him. And wants it to continue to contract or not - it's his right.

“Yes, he would go to Everton. He will still be able to make a decision - to leave.

“With or without money. I will not put pressure on it. I think Andriy has no ego, we have a normal dialogue with him."

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