Serhiy Palkin: We have no reasons to mistrust Lucescu

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Shakhtar Donetsk are unusually quiet and humble at the transfer market this winter. No megabuck transfers, minimum vociferous complaints. Just a little row with Dnipro over the sale of young halfback Kravchenko, but nothing more. Even the exodus of the first Mexican in the capital of the Donbass Nery Castillo, and the Italian Cristiano Lucarelli has been surprisingly ordinary. Last week Oleksiy Belik left the club just as quietly for the loan spell in the German club Bochum.

One can ask though who is going to score for the Donetsk team? Hladkiy, Brandao, Adriano – that’s all! Lucescu doesn’t have any more forwards in his squad. Maybe the club will buy some more? Championat.ru asked Shakhtar director general Serhiy Palkin about this.

FIRST CHANNEL CUP

- Let us begin with the First Channel Cup. What can you say about the team’s result in the competition?

- I want to emphasize that we originally saw the tournament as an important event, but still just one of the phases of preparation of the team for the resumption of the season. At the same time I don’t want to deny that Shakhtar wanted to win this cup. Not so much for the prize sake, but for our players gaining more self-confidence. But, alas, we failed. It happens.

However I think that our guys were not only better in all respects than Israelis and CSKA, but looked better in the final match as well, at least in the first 90 minutes. Spot kicks are lottery as you know. Just one miss and everything is ruined. Dynamo were better motivated than Shakhtar for one simple reason: the team had a new coach. In such cases usually players’ enthusiasm grows and their forces double.

- What do you think about changes in the format of the tournament?

- I think it makes sense to extend the range of purely Russian-Ukrainian competition. For example, invite four best clubs from Russia and Ukraine each, divide them into two groups. Of course it is possible to preserve the current formula but in this case it is better to invite really strong clubs for the competition. Those Serbs, let us put hand on heart, are not at all inspiring. Maybe it is better to invite German, British or other clubs from top five championships. However the time of the Cup is not convenient to them. Anyway, it is obvious that some changes in the tournament are necessary and it is up to the organizers to decide on them.

DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES

- Shakhtar sold three attackers this winter. Will you acquire somebody to replace Castillo, Lucarelli and Belik?

- I think not. At least, not now. Team coach Mircea Lucescu believes that the remaining players at his disposal are enough to continue the fight for both domestic trophies. Therefore, the purchase of Konstantin Kravchenko will be the last one.

In this situation, more important for us is to retain a skeleton staff, to enable existing players to express themselves. According to Lucescu, and I agree with him on this issue, our team today is well staffed and has no urgent need for an influx of new blood from outside.

- But Shakhtar have just three forwards. Isn’t it too few to address the major challenges?

- The coach believes that these human resources will be enough. We have no reasons to mistrust Lucescu. I think he knows what he’s doing and understands the degree of potential risks.

- Belik went to Germany for free?

- Yes. Our president told him to find himself a decent club and go there on loan. So when the request from Bochum came, we didn’t stop the player from going there. By the way, he will be able not only to try himself in Bundesliga but also have no financial losses - as far as I know in Bochum he will receive no less than in Donetsk.

LUCESCU’S CREDIT OF CONFIDENCE

- After Shakhtar’s failures at the end of last year supporters began to talk of Mircea Lucescu’s resignation. Do these rumours have a real ground?

- Lucescu’s contract with Schachtar is valid for another two years. And I see no reason why we should break it. Yes, we had a poor ending of 2007 but recession occurs at all, even the greatest teams. This is not an excuse to give up and cut straight from the shoulder. We need to move forward and try to win the championship and the country cup, and then play well in Europe. We still trust Mircea and hope that he will make the right conclusions from the mistakes.

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