Shaktar Donetsks Internationals refuse to return to club in war zone
I think we could all see this coming as it was mentioned on various threads
You can be sure western clubs will be watching this very closely.
Shakhtar Donetsk’s owner has confirmed six players have refused to return to Ukraine for the new season as conflict rages around the club’s home city.
Brazilians Douglas Costa, Fred, Dentinho, Alex Teixiera and Ismaily plus Argentine striker Facundo Ferreyra remained in France following a friendly against Lyon on Saturday.
In a statement on the club’s website, the owner, Rinat Akhmetov, warned the players that “in the first instance they will suffer” if they do not return, because their actions could activate compensation clauses forcing them to pay “tens of millions of euros” to Shakhtar.
“It is true, six team players have not come,” said Akhmetov.
“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. If they do not come, I think, they will be the first to suffer. Each of them has a minimum release clause, which is tens of millions of euros. If someone wants to reduce this amount by a million, then such a decision is our right. There won’t be a clearance sale.
You can be sure western clubs will be watching this very closely.
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I see where mr.Akhmetov is coming from , he's running a business in the end.
But does he realize where Donetsk is? And what just happened around there before he starts threatening players??
He's running a sport business in a war zone , what does he expect??
Also what teams will want to play away there? No fans will follow if they have any common sense. He would be as well to try to get the team playing elsewhere - either that or he's in a right mess.
I was discussing this with my Dad, as I was assuming they were in the CL (if not I'm guessing they will be in EL), I think they will have to play their home games elsewhere in Ukraine or even abroad, certainly in European competitions as teams will not want to travel to Donetsk and neither will fans.
In their league other Ukrainian teams might be more willing to travel there but I guess it isn't 100% that they will either, which makes it a lot more difficult if you're needing to find somewhere else to play every single home game.
Agreed!
And yes , they are in CL !
Agreed there - I don't think anyone would argue with the desire to not travel into a warzone.
Just one point though, I wonder if the players are still wanting to be paid in their absence...
They are in the Champions League - entering at the group stage - so they'll probably do what they did back in February, when they moved the game between Dynamo Kiev and Valencia to Cyprus.
As if the CL draw wasn't complicated enough.