Thursday, 24th July, 2014
Brazilian midfielder Fred has returned to Shakhtar Donetsk after the club shifted base to Kyiv, but a few of his South American team-mates are sceptical about returning to Ukraine due to the country’s current geopolitical situation.
The 21-year-old midfielder was part of the group that refused to return to Ukraine after a friendly in France, but has finally relented.
Defender Ismaily is also expected to return but the Brazilian trio of Douglas Costa, Alex Teixeira and Dentinho are still absent along with Argentine Facundo.
Donetsk is currently under the control of pro-Russian rebels and the rest of the South American contingent have so far refused to return to the club.
The club’s CEO, Sergei Palkin, admits that the players are scared to return but said that they will employ “other mechanisms” to resolve the issue if the players continue to play hardball.
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"Many of them are scared. We are in the persuasion phase that Ukraine is safe”, Palkin was quoted as saying by the BBC.
"I hope to get this sorted out. If not, we have the other mechanisms to deal with it."
Club president Rinat Akhmetov has promised to pass hard sanctions if the players refuse to return to the club.
The club confirmed yesterday that they have shifted base to Kyiv, around 600 miles away from Donetsk, and will travel to Lviv for Champions League and domestic games.
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