The humanitarian drama in Ukraine due to the Russian invasion is increasing and, of course, it also affects football. War stories follow one another like the one told by Fernando Valente, coach of the second team of the Shakhtar. George Sudakov is a 19-year-old attacking midfielder raised in the youth ranks of the Ukrainian club. A talent that greatly excites the technicians, but like so many others, his career has been stopped short because of the war.
“Sudakov was the greatest talent I trained in my life, 20 years old, international A for Ukraine, recently renewed contract until 2026 with the Shakhtar; a fantastic human being waiting to be a father with his wife Lisa of a girl…”, Fernando Valente, coach of the Ukrainian club’s second team, writes on the networks, with a montage that contrasts the happy images of the player and his partner in the announcement of her pregnancy with a photo of the two of them together in a bunker “Dreams to fulfill, snatched from a bunker by a senseless war. Yes, I cry and pray for this couple and for all the young players and friends I left behind in a Ukraine that made me happy for two years. My heart is broken…”, adds Valente.
“Sudakov is a kid with enormous potential, even to play for Barcelona or Manchester City. He was the biggest talent I ever coached and he’s one of the strongest connections I have. On my cell phone I keep a photo before the conflict of him and his girlfriend, who is pregnant, happy about it, and a while ago he sent me another of them stuck in a bunker and sad. Every time I see him again, tears come to my eyes,” Valente told Agencia Lusa. In addition to Sudakov, Bondarenko and Mudryk are the other players who have passed through the hands of Fernando Valente and who have settled in the first team. “Fortunately, another 15 players that I trained at Shakhtar and now play for Mariupol are out of the country, as they were doing pre-season in Turkey, after the winter break, when the war started,” explains the coach.