Dnipro nip in for Nesin

FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk have beaten FC Dynamo Kyiv to the signature of 18-year-old Ukrainian prodigy Vitaliy Nesin, who has agreed a two-year deal with the club.

Real promise 
Nesin showed real promise and was the star man for the Ukraine Under-19s at the Granatkin Memorial Tournament in St Petersburg in January. The tournament brought together U-19 sides from all over eastern Europe.

Stay at home
“I understood that after Granatkin I might receive some offers, but I didn't imagine there would be so many," Nesin told uefa.com. “I took it calmly. I didn't want to go Russia, what's the use? I didn't want to go abroad at all - my parents used to live in Spain and they know that at my age it will be very difficult over there."

Not for sale
Nesin admitted he was sorely tempted by the Dynamo offer. He met Valeriy Lobanovskiy in Koncha-Zaspa, but signed for Dnipro the following day for an undisclosed fee. Dynamo then made several attempts to lure the player from Dnipro, including a proposed swap deal for 23-year-old striker Oleg Venhlinsky, but were told by Dnipro general manager Andriy Stetsenko that Nesin is not for sale at any price.

No top-flight games
Nesin has not yet played a single top-flight game because the Football Federation of Ukraine's rules stipulate that a player is ineligible to sign professional terms until the age of 18. However, he did train with Dnipro over the winter break and clearly impressed.

A chance for Nesin
Dnipro head coach Yevhen Kucherevsky said Nesin has a good chance of appearing for the first team when the Ukrainian league resumes on 16 March. He said: “A serious injury to our striker Vitaliy Mintenko gives the youngster a chance of first-team football. But it is hard to jump from youth football to the first team that quickly, and I can`t tell whether it will be easy for Nesin. It is important that he keeps a cool head."