Shakhtar’s chief executive slams agents for “stealing” players

Sergei Palkin,

chief executive, has slammed football agents of exploiting the Ukrainian war to talk about transfers of foreign stars, while FIFA announces extension of concessions for the foreign players in the country.

FIFA decided to extend temporary regulations earlier this week, aiming to allow foreign players in Ukraine to be able to feature elsewhere. Shakhtar are a rare case in the context as they have not been able to play at home of the Donbass Arena since 2014.

The domestic league of Ukraine was suspended in February and the restart is said to be in August.

Shakhtar's Marlos, Dentinho and Junior Moraes went back to Brazil on loan contracts and Tete sealed a loan move to Olympique Lyon, whereas Dynamo Kyiv’s Vitinho and Carlos de Pena also departed Brazil following the armed conflict.

As per reports from the Shakhtar chief executive, some representatives have pre-empted FIFA’s ruling by telling clubs to divert transfer fees for clubs to higher commission fees for agents.

"Some agents are destroying us. They are trying to steal players,"

Palkin told The Athletic.

"They play games, contacting clubs, saying don’t pay us [Shakhtar] and deals are being broken. You cannot imagine what is going on.

"The power to decide on suspension of the contracts is now in the hands of players' agents. It doesn't reflect the club's intention to save players and investments."

Now they only have to reach an agreement by June 30 and Shakhtar midfielder Marcos Antonio finished a medical for

this week, with the Serie A side on the verge of signing him for a lower price.

"We now basically have nine days to agree with our players their sale or loan to foreign clubs, which is just impossible,"

 he added.

"FIFA has not helped Ukrainian clubs by issuing regulations. On the contrary, it significantly worsened our negotiations with players and made agents even more powerful and richer."

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