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HEORHIY SUDAKOV, Shakhtar Donetsk are adamant about holding their prize asset.
SHAKHTAR DONETSK ARE ONCE AGAIN UNDER CARETAKER MANAGEMENT WITH STEVE OUTTEN BEIND LURED BACK TO HELP THE UKRANIAN CLUB FOR A SECOND YEAR. THE CLUB FINSIHED A POSITIVE 13TH LAST SEASON HAD HOPED TO SECURE A PERMANENT MANAGER FOR THE NEW SEASON BUT UNFORTUNATELY TAHT HASN'T BEEN THE CASE.
Despite making it clear that he was only at the club for one season, in his own words "to help out", Steve Outten has been asked to help the club again and this year it could be more difficult with the club struggling financially and also not very active in the market. The only player fetching much interest has been dominant midfielder Heorhiy Sudakov, who despite his young age was awarded the clubs player of the season. As a result, the club sit currently with 24 players meaning it is likely one player might end up having their deal terminated in order to balance the books. Speaking upon his return, Outten said.
"I hoped I wasn't here again, I hoped the club would have a full time manager. I hoped the club would have been further ahead in preparation for the season compared to last but unfortunately that's not been the case. I had a great time here last season but my job should've been done, now I find myself having to play catch up once again. As a club, we finished 13th, to some it wasn't going to set the world a light, but for us we excelled by the expectations.
"While I'm, here I want us to progress and get that top 10 finish we kept in reach of, but being realistic this season is likely to be more of a struggle. We had to expand the stadium we had fans turned away on the weekly and it'll be a better output for the club going forward financially, but by doing that we're not in a great position for much investment to the point where one of out bigger contracts might just get axed.
"We have no spare money, we can't afford to invest in the academy, bring in new players and we can't even sell players at the minute. We're a bit stuck right now.
"We picked up young Angelo but the kid, unfortunately doesn't look too far from his peak and he'll need to push hard to make grounds in this game. It's a shame, because we could've taken some of the youths on loan to better some of the top sides whilst also getting a better financial return but unfortunately that's not the case, but to be fair the loan market isn't too busy in general.
"I've always said, I work with what I've got, I'll play the hand I've been dealt but this year looks a bad hand. Hopefully we'll make it good as the season goes on"
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