Respect is the key to success (second part of the interview with Castro)
Thursday, June 25, 2020
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Luis Castro told about his early coaching career, Portuguese football, the Europa League, Shakhtar roster and transfers
Recently, the Miners’ manager gave a big press conference for the Portuguese media on Zoom. We bring you the second part of the communication with reporters.
- When at the beginning of your career, you were a coach of a very small Portuguese club, did you expect to play in the Champions League, to represent Portugal in international football competitions and be able to win the title in another country?
- I don’t even know what I was thinking back then ... I probably didn’t think of anything like that at all. I had the same thoughts as always: that working is the best way to protect yourself in life. I think we all always carry something of our own, something unique. And everything that I managed to achieve was always built around constant hard work. I knew very well that every training and every game is a specific working tool to show my qualities. And I always conveyed this message to my players. After all, it is the players who make the coaches, and not the other way around, as many people think. We shouldn’t forget about it. Players make us, coaches, successful. They are the tool that gives us everything that we achieve in the career. Therefore, I always understood very well that if I start investing a lot in my work and my players, if I offer them some interesting and right training, being able to diversify the workflow, then this will lead to a good result. Interestingly, when for the first time in my life I managed to advance from the third to the second division, my friend Luis Simoes came up to me and said that he had a big project for me. I was very happy, and he offered me to train a minor district club. He then said that this is the lowest division, the very bottom of football, and therefore there’s nowhere to drop, but you can only work more and more, go up and win. I remember the period in my life when I worked at the factory in the same way and coached the team in the evenings. And when I was returning home after cold and rain, then dined with my wife and daughters, I did not understand why I was doing all that. And I surely did not think about the fact that I would play with my team in the Champions League, that I would win the domestic league title - I didn’t even dream of that. To be honest, I don’t even know how it all happened. Luis Castro got the opportunity that many people would like to get, but, unfortunately, not everyone gets this chance. But, you know, when you are in the very beginning, in the lower football leagues, then you perceive every day as the last one, and you need to do your utmost. When there is a mountain of problems in front of you, then you simply do not see and do not understand how to break out of this rock-bottom situation and reach the topmost level. But thanks to some long and hard work, this happened. It was a long, long construction work. My energy helped me, but big credit goes to all my players. All of them have been fantastic over the years of my career. Over 23 years of work, I can definitely say that I haven’t had any serious, complex conflict with any player. In each team, we tried to build a family. Of course, problems happen even in families, but good families always try to solve them peacefully. And these obstacles make us even stronger, make us continue to move forward. That's what we did. I always told my players and still say that we are a family, that we will have problems, but I, as a leader, will always solve them, and together with the team we will go through everything. There are two words that have always been present on my way: respect and work. Respecting your players, opponents, coaches, fans, reporters, everyone is the key to success.
- Mister, people praised all your interviews during the season. Would you like Portuguese football to learn something through your vision and statements? (A Bola TV)
- We live in a context and create specific contexts. I wouldn’t want anything. I don’t have this power to change anything. What I can do is just changing my footballers if they don’t quite understand our idea of the game. I try to change, perhaps, the opinion of some of the departments surrounding me when it doesn’t coincide with the way I see something. I always talk in an absolutely normal manner. I don’t think that something needs to be changed. Now, when everything is going well, nothing needs to be changed. During that time, while I was walking up the career ladder, they often told me that I should change, that I should be a little bit more commercial ... And I ask myself the question: if I have reached this day still being who I am, why should I change? I will not be myself that way, but someone else. And Portuguese football has its own DNA. You heard, already during the pandemic, many people say that football would change, that behaviour would change? But you saw how on the second day of the weakening of quarantine, everything got back to normal. I would put it like this: whoever drives a car and, God forbid, has an accident, travels slowly just for the next two kilometres. And then we all kind of forget it and step on the accelerator again and race away. Absolutely the same thing happens in our case: we forget everything very quickly. We have a culture. Portuguese football is like that. I am not saying that it’s bad or good, it’s just what it is! And the truth is that this is how Portugal can produce a huge number of good players and coaches. That’s how we got in Europe’s top 5 and managed to claim several continental titles. The world has changed, and now we must change too? To adjust? Perhaps, in some ways, yes, something needs to be adjusted. But we are culturally like that - we like discussing things. They once said that television would change because there were too many discussions. Well, what do people want, don’t they want discussions and conversations? Isn't that what TV companies want in their top-rated programmes? And since people want this, we will not depart from it then. People just love discussions. I said that I don’t like it and therefore I don’t discuss things. I say that, but I never argue with anyone. If you want to quarrel, call some other person, not me. Therefore, I do not want to change anything at all. But I will always say what I think, and I won’t look for any cliches. I do what I think is right, and always with a clear conscience. It’s not that I have three substitutions and I must make them. No, I will do what I need. Not because I’m winning, I will at the end of the game field another defender not to concede any goals. I will field that defender only if I decide that this is really necessary. Otherwise, those will be templates. And the set patterns in football often prevent us from moving forward in our careers. Sometimes they told me: “You cannot train a single team here to become champions. You will not become the champion here.” Well, how can I become a champion if I work at Rio Ave, Vitoria or Chaves? No way, in Portugal you can only train after you have already become a champion. You can’t train unless you become a champion. The people around me told me this. I said no, not like that. I should be rational. I did not train clubs in Portugal which were seeking the title because there were always people in those clubs who were more competent than me. This is how we can develop ourselves! Thinking that someone else was at the place where I should have been would slow down my evolution as a coach and an individual. I always looked at it that way. If this coach works at Porto, Braga, Benfica or Sporting, then he is more competent than me. Full stop. So I lack something. Let's see what. What do I need to develop in myself to go to work there? That's how I developed. We often want to take a position and blame others if we don’t get it. It’s like a footballer who does not play and blames the coach, like a student who doesn’t get good grades and blames the teacher. I see it differently: the fault will always be mine. My success is me, and it’s up to me to decide on my success, not others. If I'm not there, it means that I didn’t have the opportunity to show myself better than others. Perhaps, now I have something that I didn’t have previously. I don’t want to change anything. I want to be myself.
- Why do Portuguese coaches achieve great success abroad, and then, when they return home, they are sometimes forgotten? (Noticias ao minuto)
- Clubs, presidents have the right to sign a contract with any coach whom they want to see. Still, those coaches have colleagues who occupy those roles. Nobody forgets anyone - they do not work there because others work there. There can’t be two coaches at one club. Those places are occupied by other coaches, they are competent, and the majority are Portuguese. Portuguese coaches have very interesting working methods. Perhaps the first one was Jose Mourinho - he won the Champions League with Porto and went a long way ... The methods of the Portuguese coaches were a success and are welcomed by the players. They are based on the fact that playing aspects are present at every training session. Football players are always required to make quick decisions. High pace and quick decision-making is what the game requires the most. This is practised in training and it makes our training methodology privileged. And the player is also very pleased to ultimately play that way. This is how the teams that are successful in the future are built. When we leave Portugal, we also get to clubs with good conditions to show our work. Fortunately, one manages to open the doors for another. Paulo opened the doors here for me - thanks to his work, they began considering other Portuguese coaches. I think we will be more and more numerous each time. Still, Portuguese coaches are a brand of quality ... Honestly, I do not really like dividing people into Portuguese and other nationalities. But we manage to be successful.
- How do you see the future of the Portuguese league? (Noticias ao minuto)
- I already had the opportunity to say that this season the league is very difficult for both Porto and Benfica. Those are two giants that go neck and neck, and I think that they will be able to give the Championship some unreal emotions. The club who is more consistent and more comfortable emotionally, who goes forward with confidence, without suffering any internal problems, will get an advantage. The future of the Portuguese Championship is being analyzed by the people who have insider knowledge about it. I guess that a certain team of people should think it over very well. If we have such good players, such great coaches, we should have a really good Championship. We need to step up everything. All of us, including me, have the opportunity to step it up and become better every day. It’s high time to do so.
- What do you make of the UEFA decision to host the Europa League matches in Germany, and the Champions League ones in Lisbon? Is this right in connection with the pandemic? (Record)
- If I chose, of course, I would like to go to Lisbon. But I also understand that Lisbon will prefer the Champions League. The UEFA decision could be just like that - to concentrate all the matches in one place. In the Championship of Ukraine, we did exactly the same thing – nearly all games are held in Kyiv. It was necessary to minimize the risks of moving around the country. And the decision to hold the remaining rounds as a knockout competition could not be any different either, because there is no time for more stuff.
- Shakhtar were one of the last teams who, prior to quarantine, had the Europa League match on March 12 against Wolfsburg in Germany. What was the atmosphere like at the match?
- Right, when we played Wolfsburg, we already knew that the pandemic in Germany was gaining momentum. Therefore, we had certain concerns. Some players asked me why we continued playing, why didn’t we stop? But we arrived for the match observing the maximum safety measures: we were fully oriented in the situation by our medical department who monitored all the precautions. Most of all, we were then worried about the hotel where we had to stay. Then, we did not even return to Kyiv, and immediately after Germany we flew to Zaporizhia, where we played against Zorya. As a result, we hadn’t been at home for six days, and for this reason we worried not so much about ourselves as about our families. You see, when you face some kind of new threat, something unknown, and the world is filled with negative stuff, then every one of us experiences some worries. But the best thing that happened in that Europa League match was a spectacular play and the result that we managed to deliver.
- What do you think about the return Europa League leg vs Wolfsburg, given the Bundesliga ends this week, while Shakhtar will have to play league games for another month? (Lusa)
- Everyone said that we had no advantage over Benfica because we had had the winter camp, while our opponents played in the Championship. They said that we would not be able to prepare for that encounter because we didn’t even have any strong opponents in the test meetings. But in the end we approached the Europa League games in good form. Therefore, it’s impossible to foresee how the upcoming game against Wolfsburg will develop. We don’t even know the venue where it will take place. There are a lot of questions. The UEFA may schedule the game in Germany, and I think this is wrong. If we already had the first match on Wolfsburg’s field, then we should not fly to them for the second leg. If we can play the league matches in Kyiv, Ukraine, then there is every condition in place for Wolfsburg to fly here and meet with us here. But in any case, we don’t know anything about the venue of the return game at the moment. I think that no side has any advantages. On the one hand, the opponents are finishing the season now and will have more time to prepare, but on the other hand, we will finish the Championship two and a half weeks before the Europa League matches, and this can be an even greater advantage for us. The only thing I definitely want is to hold two difficult friendlies. But for that it’s necessary to fly to Europe, for example, to Germany. And, imagine, we will fly there for the friendly and we won’t be able to return to Kyiv if the return game against Wolfsburg is to take place in that country. And my players will be forced to stay in Germany for a month. Perhaps we will go on a training camp in Turkey, but local clubs also end games on July 20, and we won’t be able to play any friendlies. That’s what I’m talking about: how difficult it is to plan something now and how tough it is for us, the coaches. Therefore, I want to repeat, there is no point in discussing any advantages now. One thing I know for sure: we will try to win this match and advance to the quarter-finals.
- The transfer window issues are already being discussed. We know that Shakhtar prefers players from Brazil. If you suddenly lose, for example, Marlos or Junior Moraes, will it be difficult to compensate for their departure? (Record)
- Shakhtar has a very clear and definite project. Those who analyze football see and know this. Just for you to understand, we have 11 to 12 players aged about 30. About 13 players are 18 to 22 years old. I can name to you our team of young players in which almost everyone is under 23 years old - at least, nine people. Trubin, Dodo, Bondar, Cipriano, Marcos Antonio, Tete, Fernando, Solomon ... Just in case, we are prepared. Will we need to go on the football market to look for a player for this or that role? We do not need that. We have young footballers who can play. For example, goalkeeper Trubin from the U21 team has already made four apps this season and at the end of the season, no doubt, he will play as well. Dodo also played almost the entire Championship, he is very young. Mykola Matviienko is 24 years old, Cipriano is 21. We have Marcos Antonio, who is 20 years old, Fernando is 21, Tete is 20, Solomon is 20. We do not want to lose anyone, but if that happens, we have a quick replacement. And now, when the world is experiencing this kind of situation, no one leaves our team and no one comes either. We will retain the same squad for next season, and this is a great advantage. There are players who have been at the club for seven to eight years, and they will stay. Right, as you said, we prefer the Brazilian market. If this brings us success, why change our path? Shakhtar sold many Brazilians to England ... We will continue doing so. Our president has very clear, structured ideas: to sign up young players and develop them here. They benefit the club and one day they move to another one for a good price. This is a project of our club. There are players who have stayed for longer. The Shakhtar project does not depend on the coach. It is there. The coach does not come and does not say: we don’t need the young ones, I will play with these and so on. Whoever comes knows that they need to work with those available, to develop young footballers and prepare them for the future - both for the club and subsequently for a successful sale. Losing is always bad. But for the first time I’ve felt what a real defeat is – that’s if you move against the development of the players.
- Do you have any plans to sign one of the Portuguese players, given that now, because of the economic crisis, they are much cheaper? (A Bola)
- No, no one. I speak very sincerely. In football, anything can happen all of a sudden, but we have no prospect of signing any player from Portugal. At the moment, we do not think about changing the list of our players.
- When at the beginning of your career, you were a coach of a very small Portuguese club, did you expect to play in the Champions League, to represent Portugal in international football competitions and be able to win the title in another country?
- I don’t even know what I was thinking back then ... I probably didn’t think of anything like that at all. I had the same thoughts as always: that working is the best way to protect yourself in life. I think we all always carry something of our own, something unique. And everything that I managed to achieve was always built around constant hard work. I knew very well that every training and every game is a specific working tool to show my qualities. And I always conveyed this message to my players. After all, it is the players who make the coaches, and not the other way around, as many people think. We shouldn’t forget about it. Players make us, coaches, successful. They are the tool that gives us everything that we achieve in the career. Therefore, I always understood very well that if I start investing a lot in my work and my players, if I offer them some interesting and right training, being able to diversify the workflow, then this will lead to a good result. Interestingly, when for the first time in my life I managed to advance from the third to the second division, my friend Luis Simoes came up to me and said that he had a big project for me. I was very happy, and he offered me to train a minor district club. He then said that this is the lowest division, the very bottom of football, and therefore there’s nowhere to drop, but you can only work more and more, go up and win. I remember the period in my life when I worked at the factory in the same way and coached the team in the evenings. And when I was returning home after cold and rain, then dined with my wife and daughters, I did not understand why I was doing all that. And I surely did not think about the fact that I would play with my team in the Champions League, that I would win the domestic league title - I didn’t even dream of that. To be honest, I don’t even know how it all happened. Luis Castro got the opportunity that many people would like to get, but, unfortunately, not everyone gets this chance. But, you know, when you are in the very beginning, in the lower football leagues, then you perceive every day as the last one, and you need to do your utmost. When there is a mountain of problems in front of you, then you simply do not see and do not understand how to break out of this rock-bottom situation and reach the topmost level. But thanks to some long and hard work, this happened. It was a long, long construction work. My energy helped me, but big credit goes to all my players. All of them have been fantastic over the years of my career. Over 23 years of work, I can definitely say that I haven’t had any serious, complex conflict with any player. In each team, we tried to build a family. Of course, problems happen even in families, but good families always try to solve them peacefully. And these obstacles make us even stronger, make us continue to move forward. That's what we did. I always told my players and still say that we are a family, that we will have problems, but I, as a leader, will always solve them, and together with the team we will go through everything. There are two words that have always been present on my way: respect and work. Respecting your players, opponents, coaches, fans, reporters, everyone is the key to success.
- Mister, people praised all your interviews during the season. Would you like Portuguese football to learn something through your vision and statements? (A Bola TV)
- We live in a context and create specific contexts. I wouldn’t want anything. I don’t have this power to change anything. What I can do is just changing my footballers if they don’t quite understand our idea of the game. I try to change, perhaps, the opinion of some of the departments surrounding me when it doesn’t coincide with the way I see something. I always talk in an absolutely normal manner. I don’t think that something needs to be changed. Now, when everything is going well, nothing needs to be changed. During that time, while I was walking up the career ladder, they often told me that I should change, that I should be a little bit more commercial ... And I ask myself the question: if I have reached this day still being who I am, why should I change? I will not be myself that way, but someone else. And Portuguese football has its own DNA. You heard, already during the pandemic, many people say that football would change, that behaviour would change? But you saw how on the second day of the weakening of quarantine, everything got back to normal. I would put it like this: whoever drives a car and, God forbid, has an accident, travels slowly just for the next two kilometres. And then we all kind of forget it and step on the accelerator again and race away. Absolutely the same thing happens in our case: we forget everything very quickly. We have a culture. Portuguese football is like that. I am not saying that it’s bad or good, it’s just what it is! And the truth is that this is how Portugal can produce a huge number of good players and coaches. That’s how we got in Europe’s top 5 and managed to claim several continental titles. The world has changed, and now we must change too? To adjust? Perhaps, in some ways, yes, something needs to be adjusted. But we are culturally like that - we like discussing things. They once said that television would change because there were too many discussions. Well, what do people want, don’t they want discussions and conversations? Isn't that what TV companies want in their top-rated programmes? And since people want this, we will not depart from it then. People just love discussions. I said that I don’t like it and therefore I don’t discuss things. I say that, but I never argue with anyone. If you want to quarrel, call some other person, not me. Therefore, I do not want to change anything at all. But I will always say what I think, and I won’t look for any cliches. I do what I think is right, and always with a clear conscience. It’s not that I have three substitutions and I must make them. No, I will do what I need. Not because I’m winning, I will at the end of the game field another defender not to concede any goals. I will field that defender only if I decide that this is really necessary. Otherwise, those will be templates. And the set patterns in football often prevent us from moving forward in our careers. Sometimes they told me: “You cannot train a single team here to become champions. You will not become the champion here.” Well, how can I become a champion if I work at Rio Ave, Vitoria or Chaves? No way, in Portugal you can only train after you have already become a champion. You can’t train unless you become a champion. The people around me told me this. I said no, not like that. I should be rational. I did not train clubs in Portugal which were seeking the title because there were always people in those clubs who were more competent than me. This is how we can develop ourselves! Thinking that someone else was at the place where I should have been would slow down my evolution as a coach and an individual. I always looked at it that way. If this coach works at Porto, Braga, Benfica or Sporting, then he is more competent than me. Full stop. So I lack something. Let's see what. What do I need to develop in myself to go to work there? That's how I developed. We often want to take a position and blame others if we don’t get it. It’s like a footballer who does not play and blames the coach, like a student who doesn’t get good grades and blames the teacher. I see it differently: the fault will always be mine. My success is me, and it’s up to me to decide on my success, not others. If I'm not there, it means that I didn’t have the opportunity to show myself better than others. Perhaps, now I have something that I didn’t have previously. I don’t want to change anything. I want to be myself.
- Why do Portuguese coaches achieve great success abroad, and then, when they return home, they are sometimes forgotten? (Noticias ao minuto)
- Clubs, presidents have the right to sign a contract with any coach whom they want to see. Still, those coaches have colleagues who occupy those roles. Nobody forgets anyone - they do not work there because others work there. There can’t be two coaches at one club. Those places are occupied by other coaches, they are competent, and the majority are Portuguese. Portuguese coaches have very interesting working methods. Perhaps the first one was Jose Mourinho - he won the Champions League with Porto and went a long way ... The methods of the Portuguese coaches were a success and are welcomed by the players. They are based on the fact that playing aspects are present at every training session. Football players are always required to make quick decisions. High pace and quick decision-making is what the game requires the most. This is practised in training and it makes our training methodology privileged. And the player is also very pleased to ultimately play that way. This is how the teams that are successful in the future are built. When we leave Portugal, we also get to clubs with good conditions to show our work. Fortunately, one manages to open the doors for another. Paulo opened the doors here for me - thanks to his work, they began considering other Portuguese coaches. I think we will be more and more numerous each time. Still, Portuguese coaches are a brand of quality ... Honestly, I do not really like dividing people into Portuguese and other nationalities. But we manage to be successful.
- How do you see the future of the Portuguese league? (Noticias ao minuto)
- I already had the opportunity to say that this season the league is very difficult for both Porto and Benfica. Those are two giants that go neck and neck, and I think that they will be able to give the Championship some unreal emotions. The club who is more consistent and more comfortable emotionally, who goes forward with confidence, without suffering any internal problems, will get an advantage. The future of the Portuguese Championship is being analyzed by the people who have insider knowledge about it. I guess that a certain team of people should think it over very well. If we have such good players, such great coaches, we should have a really good Championship. We need to step up everything. All of us, including me, have the opportunity to step it up and become better every day. It’s high time to do so.
- What do you make of the UEFA decision to host the Europa League matches in Germany, and the Champions League ones in Lisbon? Is this right in connection with the pandemic? (Record)
- If I chose, of course, I would like to go to Lisbon. But I also understand that Lisbon will prefer the Champions League. The UEFA decision could be just like that - to concentrate all the matches in one place. In the Championship of Ukraine, we did exactly the same thing – nearly all games are held in Kyiv. It was necessary to minimize the risks of moving around the country. And the decision to hold the remaining rounds as a knockout competition could not be any different either, because there is no time for more stuff.
- Shakhtar were one of the last teams who, prior to quarantine, had the Europa League match on March 12 against Wolfsburg in Germany. What was the atmosphere like at the match?
- Right, when we played Wolfsburg, we already knew that the pandemic in Germany was gaining momentum. Therefore, we had certain concerns. Some players asked me why we continued playing, why didn’t we stop? But we arrived for the match observing the maximum safety measures: we were fully oriented in the situation by our medical department who monitored all the precautions. Most of all, we were then worried about the hotel where we had to stay. Then, we did not even return to Kyiv, and immediately after Germany we flew to Zaporizhia, where we played against Zorya. As a result, we hadn’t been at home for six days, and for this reason we worried not so much about ourselves as about our families. You see, when you face some kind of new threat, something unknown, and the world is filled with negative stuff, then every one of us experiences some worries. But the best thing that happened in that Europa League match was a spectacular play and the result that we managed to deliver.
- What do you think about the return Europa League leg vs Wolfsburg, given the Bundesliga ends this week, while Shakhtar will have to play league games for another month? (Lusa)
- Everyone said that we had no advantage over Benfica because we had had the winter camp, while our opponents played in the Championship. They said that we would not be able to prepare for that encounter because we didn’t even have any strong opponents in the test meetings. But in the end we approached the Europa League games in good form. Therefore, it’s impossible to foresee how the upcoming game against Wolfsburg will develop. We don’t even know the venue where it will take place. There are a lot of questions. The UEFA may schedule the game in Germany, and I think this is wrong. If we already had the first match on Wolfsburg’s field, then we should not fly to them for the second leg. If we can play the league matches in Kyiv, Ukraine, then there is every condition in place for Wolfsburg to fly here and meet with us here. But in any case, we don’t know anything about the venue of the return game at the moment. I think that no side has any advantages. On the one hand, the opponents are finishing the season now and will have more time to prepare, but on the other hand, we will finish the Championship two and a half weeks before the Europa League matches, and this can be an even greater advantage for us. The only thing I definitely want is to hold two difficult friendlies. But for that it’s necessary to fly to Europe, for example, to Germany. And, imagine, we will fly there for the friendly and we won’t be able to return to Kyiv if the return game against Wolfsburg is to take place in that country. And my players will be forced to stay in Germany for a month. Perhaps we will go on a training camp in Turkey, but local clubs also end games on July 20, and we won’t be able to play any friendlies. That’s what I’m talking about: how difficult it is to plan something now and how tough it is for us, the coaches. Therefore, I want to repeat, there is no point in discussing any advantages now. One thing I know for sure: we will try to win this match and advance to the quarter-finals.
- The transfer window issues are already being discussed. We know that Shakhtar prefers players from Brazil. If you suddenly lose, for example, Marlos or Junior Moraes, will it be difficult to compensate for their departure? (Record)
- Shakhtar has a very clear and definite project. Those who analyze football see and know this. Just for you to understand, we have 11 to 12 players aged about 30. About 13 players are 18 to 22 years old. I can name to you our team of young players in which almost everyone is under 23 years old - at least, nine people. Trubin, Dodo, Bondar, Cipriano, Marcos Antonio, Tete, Fernando, Solomon ... Just in case, we are prepared. Will we need to go on the football market to look for a player for this or that role? We do not need that. We have young footballers who can play. For example, goalkeeper Trubin from the U21 team has already made four apps this season and at the end of the season, no doubt, he will play as well. Dodo also played almost the entire Championship, he is very young. Mykola Matviienko is 24 years old, Cipriano is 21. We have Marcos Antonio, who is 20 years old, Fernando is 21, Tete is 20, Solomon is 20. We do not want to lose anyone, but if that happens, we have a quick replacement. And now, when the world is experiencing this kind of situation, no one leaves our team and no one comes either. We will retain the same squad for next season, and this is a great advantage. There are players who have been at the club for seven to eight years, and they will stay. Right, as you said, we prefer the Brazilian market. If this brings us success, why change our path? Shakhtar sold many Brazilians to England ... We will continue doing so. Our president has very clear, structured ideas: to sign up young players and develop them here. They benefit the club and one day they move to another one for a good price. This is a project of our club. There are players who have stayed for longer. The Shakhtar project does not depend on the coach. It is there. The coach does not come and does not say: we don’t need the young ones, I will play with these and so on. Whoever comes knows that they need to work with those available, to develop young footballers and prepare them for the future - both for the club and subsequently for a successful sale. Losing is always bad. But for the first time I’ve felt what a real defeat is – that’s if you move against the development of the players.
- Do you have any plans to sign one of the Portuguese players, given that now, because of the economic crisis, they are much cheaper? (A Bola)
- No, no one. I speak very sincerely. In football, anything can happen all of a sudden, but we have no prospect of signing any player from Portugal. At the moment, we do not think about changing the list of our players.
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