Everton told Vitaly Mykolenko signing is ‘too early’
Everton have been warned that their new signing Vitaly Mykolenko may not be ready for the Premier League by former Ukraine boss Yozhef Sabo.
The Toffees have agreed a deal worth up to £20m to sign the Ukrainian left-back from Dynamo Kyiv in January according to The Athletic, with Lucas Digne’s future at the club looking bleak after a fall-out with Rafa Benitez.
Despite excitement around the signing from fans, it seems that there are some question marks around the signing currently and Sabo has believes that it may be ‘too early’ for the transfer to happen.
Speaking to Meta Ratings, Sabo admitted that he thinks the managerial situation at Goodison Park could also be a downer on the deal but said he hopes it all works out in the end.
“The Premier League is a completely different league, another championship, and there is no way to compare it with the UPL, of course,” he said.
“There it is a different football, fast. In England, they are not sitting ten men in their penalty box. I would not say that England’s championship is rough but pretty tough.
“In my opinion, it is too early for Vitaliy to play in the English championship. He plays well on attack, connects and assists. But this is in the UPL.
“We have not seen it in the Champions League. His opponents did not allow him to prove himself.
“The main thing is for him not to go to ground in England, sitting on the bench, as Everton may change their head coach. If he is invited by one specialist and soon another arrives, he could fall out of favour.
“But God willing, everything will work out. We will see. It will be good for the national team.”
Gamble
After the brilliant stint of Digne at Everton, it looks set to be a rather abrupt ending and that means whoever replaces him is going to have big shoes to fill.
That won’t help 22-year-old Mykolenko settle quickly in the Premier League, seeing as he’s likely to be thrown straight into the deep end as a regular starter.
It’s surely a concern that a former national team coach doesn’t believe he’s ready for the move, but if Benitez thinks he can add something to the team then he should be trusted to build his squad.
There have been encouraging signs in recent games that Everton can build something under him and his signings from the summer have arguably been the club’s best players this season, so he deserves the benefit of the doubt.
In other Everton news, talkSPORT pundit heaps praise on ‘star of the future’ for performance vs Chelsea.