Everton have confirmed the signing of the Dynamo Kyiv defender Vitaliy Mykolenko for an undisclosed fee, with the Ukraine international agreeing a four-and-a-half-year deal.
The 22-year-old left-back becomes the Toffees’ first signing of the January transfer window. Mykolenko has won 21 caps for Ukraine and was a key part of Andriy Shevchenko’s team that reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2020.
Speaking after becoming manager Rafa Benítez’s sixth signing, Mykolenko said: “Moving to Everton is a big and important step in my life. I am 22 but I don’t feel like a youngster. I have experience of playing at European level and hope I will continue to improve as a player.”
Mykolenko can also operate in central defence and as a wing-back and made his Dynamo debut aged just 18, making his senior international debut one year later. He added: “I like to play on the front foot and get forward when I can. Modern football demands that full-backs are able to attack as well as defend. I think I am a versatile defender who can get up and down the pitch. But I believe desire and commitment are the most important attributes and I will aim to bring those qualities.”
Mykolenko is expected to replace Lucas Digne, who has fallen out of favour with Benítez in recent weeks and has been strongly linked with Brighton and Chelsea.
Meanwhile, Benítez has likened Dominic Calvert-Lewin to a new signing as the striker prepares to make his first appearance since August. The England international scored in each of the club’s first three matches of the season, but a thigh injury and subsequent setback in his recovery has denied the Everton manager his services until now. There will be a temptation, especially with Richarlison still sidelined by a calf problem, to put Calvert-Lewin in from the start at home to Brighton on Sunday.
However, while Benítez is delighted to have last season’s leading scorer back, he has sounded a note of caution about placing too much expectation on him. “He’s a massive signing for us in the second part of the league,” he said.
“Last year the top scorers of this team we’re not playing this year so, if we bring him back and a few weeks later Richarlison, we have more options there, we can think of the second part totally different. I’ve explained before that one thing is match fitness that you can improve by playing games and the other thing is fitness.
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“Fitness-wise he is getting better. Match fitness, we will see. Maybe he scores three goals in the first half and we don’t need to worry about his match fitness, but I think the issue will be how long he can play if he starts the game or, if he comes from the bench, how much impact he can have on the game.
“We are considering all of these things but he is training really well and he is really happy because he is with the team and is ready to play and score goals.”