Shakhtar general manager Serhiy Palkin has commented on the Pitmen’s upcoming winter training camp.
– In advance of team dues. Where will they go and what is the Pitmen’s plan for this preparatory period?
– The training camp will start on January 10th and end on February 9th. Between these dates, perhaps there will be a break of about three days. There are 6 sparring sessions. Our task today is, first of all, to bring the injured guys back to the right level. Traore himself didn’t show himself 100 percent: I think what he showed in the first part of the season is 30-40 percent of his abilities. He had a big injury, he didn’t play for a long time. And I understand that somewhere, because this is the only foreign player left after the start of the war, he underwent some pressure. We also discussed the option of him training abroad and coming to us for matches. Then he realized it was physically impossible. It all comes together and the results. So I hope this goes away. Now everyone understands what the situation is, they see that the logistics are working – our transfers from Ukraine to other countries for tournaments. That is, we have already traveled the road, and now we can focus on the result and prepare for the first match against Rennes.
– Information appeared in the media that Shakhtar intends to go to the second training camp in the United States. How true is this?
– We were negotiating with MLS, there were some agreements. But we began to “surf” by dates – a discrepancy began. We understood that having gone to the United States, we would play a maximum of 2 games there. And purely economically, it turned out that we would be at a loss. We wanted to go there to give the money we earned to the army, refugees, the Ukrainian people. And what can we give if we still have to? They have simply calculated and understood that economically we are not within the budget. If there were more games, we’d go. We needed at least 4 games and then we would definitely have gone. And so, it didn’t work. Let’s get ready in Turkey.
