Shakhtar declines Barcelona’s proposal

02 July, 2009, 13:30

UEFA Cup holders Shakhtar Donetsk say they won’t sell their top defenseman Dmitry Chigrinsky to Champions League winners Barcelona.

The Ukrainian team’s coach Mircea Lucescu confirmed to Sport-Express newspaper that the club has received an official request from Catalonia, but stressed they aren’t ready say “yes” to it.

”The president [Rinat Akhmetov] made it clear that we won’t let Chigrinsky go under the conditions they offered,” Mircea Lucescu explained.

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The 22-year-old, who is a graduate of Shakhtar’s academy, has played 74 matches for the Donetsk side, scoring 7 goals. He also has 14 caps for Ukraine.

Barcelona and Shakhtar were in the same group in Champions League 2008/09. And it was at the hands of the Ukrainian side that the Catalonians suffered their only loss in the tournament, going down 2-3 at home.

The win allowed Shakhtar to progress to the UEFA Cup playoffs, which they won by beating Werder Bremen in the finals.

If Barca signs Chigrinsky he’ll become the second player from Eastern Europe in the team. Belarusian Aleksandr Hleb joined the side at the start of 2008/09 season, but failed to make an impact at Camp Nou, not scoring a single goal in 19 appearances.