Vitalii Mykolenko leaves Ukraine team camp after injury setback | OneFootball

Vitalii Mykolenko has left the Ukraine national team training camp due to an injury.

Mykolenko had suffered an injury in the final pre-season game against AS Roma but made his return to the pitch against Mansfield Town in the Carabao Cup before facing Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League.

“After an MRI, the Everton player was found to have an injury sustained in matches for the club. Because of this, Mykolenko will not be able to play in the September 2026 World Cup qualification matches against France and Azerbaijan. Serhiy Rebrov's coaching staff has called up Vladyslav Dubinchak for these matches,” read a statement from the Ukrainian Association of Football.

The 26-year-old was pictured leaving the training camp and is likely to return to England.

In his absence, David Moyes had to play James Garner at left-back against Leeds United and Brighton. Adam Aznou, who was signed from Bayern Munich as an understudy to Mykolenko this summer, was also suffering from an ankle injury. He returned to action for Everton U21s on Tuesday when they were narrowly defeated at Docaster Rovers.

Reader Comments (40)

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Jack Convery 2 Posted 03/09/2025 at 17:04:56

We need a left-back pronto.

Not to mention that other problem position — right-back!!!!!

Paul Kossoff 3 Posted 03/09/2025 at 17:18:58

A few free defenders on here Moyes should look at:

TransferMarkt: Free Agents

Jonathan Oppenheimer 4 Posted 03/09/2025 at 17:19:38

He was clearly not right in the Wolves match. Hopefully it didn't get too much worse while with the national team and he can recover in the next month or so, but if it's significantly worse, we're in trouble.

But unless Aznou is that raw and not good enough, if he's healthy, I'd like to see him given a run to see what he's capable of.

Ian Bennett 5 Posted 03/09/2025 at 17:29:09

We had a loan bid turned down for Chilwell apparently before he went France.

Phil (Kelsall) Roberts 6 Posted 03/09/2025 at 17:33:24

Jack - Transfer and Loan window has closed until 1.1.2026 so it is Free Agents or Nobody.

Robert Birks 7 Posted 03/09/2025 at 19:01:33

He is beginning to like the treatment room.

January, 2 full-backs please.

Rob Hooton 8 Posted 03/09/2025 at 19:11:02

Bit of a blow, I quite like Mykolenko who has been defensively solid. I thought he was improving at getting forward last season when Moyes came back and was hoping he might kick on a bit this season (we know Moyes likes his fullbacks to get forward last).

Hope it isn't serious; I also hope Aznou is ready to take his chance and stake his place in the team – he probably wasn't expecting it so soon.

Rob Dolby 9 Posted 03/09/2025 at 19:20:02

He didn't look fit against Wolves and was probably rushed back.

I wouldn't bet against him starting against Villa.

Oliver Molloy 10 Posted 03/09/2025 at 19:41:30

The club getting a bit of stick regards this – if true, the fitness guys at Everton have questions to answer.

“Mykolenko left the national team due to a diagnosed muscle problem,” he said.

“A big thank you to Everton who managed to get the player back on the pitch on the 18th day after his muscle injury and immediately gave him two 90-minute games in three days.

“This is blatant unprofessionalism and amateurism. There are a lot of emotions, let them look for the guilty, but this is the structure of the barbell – from the coaching to the medical staff of Everton.

“It's incredible that this is happening at a club of the English Premier League level in 2025.

“It is difficult for me to imagine how a coach with the appropriate coaching education and understanding of football can make such decisions and deliberately expose a player to the risk of injury, which does not benefit the club, the national team, the player himself, or even the coach himself, who loses a key fighting unit.”

Christy Ring 13 Posted 03/09/2025 at 20:01:00

The Ukraine medical staff called us unprofessional and amateurish, saying coming back from a hamstring injury after 18 days and playing 90 minutes Wednesday and Saturday doesn't make sense, and that it's going to take longer now to recover?

So are we back playing Garner again out of position, after his fine performance in midfield against Wolves? If it's true, it definitely asks questions about our medical team.

I don't understand why he played the full game against Mansfield in his first game back anyway?

Rumours we tried to bring in Chilwell a couple of hours before the deadline, but he had signed for Strasbourg… Could we not have tried to bring him in weeks earlier, a very good left-back?

Pete Neilson 14 Posted 03/09/2025 at 20:03:13

Read today that our first team doctor, William Fotherby, is joining Man Utd so I imagine it'll be somebody else dealing with his treatment.

Gavin Johnson 15 Posted 03/09/2025 at 20:08:32

Could have been worse. They could have played him and he had broken down and he'd be out for even longer.

Their physio is right that you shouldn't expect to see this happening in this day and age. Years ago, I remember Kevin Ratcliffe saying that he played a lot of games for Everton when he wasn't fully fit and was doing it on injections. It didn't serve him, because he went from being possibly the best centre-back in the league to being washed up not long after reaching 30.

Sam Hoare 16 Posted 03/09/2025 at 20:13:05

Not ideal. Could mean an early debut for Adam Aznou.

Or for Merlin Röhl if Garner is moved back to left-back.

Colin Glassar 17 Posted 03/09/2025 at 20:15:19

Moyes has history doing this.

Remember when he rushed back Jack Rodwell and played him on the wing? He was never the same after that.

Brendan McLaughlin 18 Posted 03/09/2025 at 20:16:32

Thought Finch Farm had a "rest & recovery" approach...

Christy Ring 19 Posted 03/09/2025 at 20:17:28

Gavin #15,

Martinez did the same with McCarthy, never gave him enough time to recover fully from his hamstring injury, played him too soon.

Gavin Johnson 20 Posted 03/09/2025 at 20:23:57

Christy. Yep, I forgot all about McCarthy.

I seem to remember Martinez going against our own physio team on that one, cos he held some kind of physio qualification himself so thought he knew better.

Brendan McLaughlin 21 Posted 03/09/2025 at 20:29:46

Colin #17,

A history of doing this? Backed up with one example from ancient history.

Dave Abrahams 22 Posted 03/09/2025 at 20:32:23

Paul (1),

I think when a player is selected to play for their country, then they have to travel so the coaches of that country can make the decision to see if they are fit or not.

Tony Abrahams 23 Posted 03/09/2025 at 20:34:35

I think that these things can sometimes go out of the window, when there's nobody else to play there, Brendan?

I think we have signed some good players and had a fairly good window, but I hope not bringing in a couple of versatile defenders doesn't come back and bite us in the arse.

Unprofessional and amateurish is hopefully being left behind but, when you are short on numbers and not totally prepared for a new season, then sometimes you end up rushing players back a little bit too quickly.

I'm not Mykolenko's biggest fan but he his definitely needed right now.

Maybe Merlin Röhl could play left-back, Sam?

Brendan McLaughlin 25 Posted 03/09/2025 at 20:50:40

Course they can, Tony #23.

But when I read about the "rest and recovery" regime at Finch Farm on here... I got the impression they called the shots.

Tony Abrahams 26 Posted 03/09/2025 at 21:03:59

I hope Ernie is calling this correctly.

And with regards the rest and recovery regime, Brendan, then hopefully it's going to become a thing of the past!

Christy Ring 27 Posted 03/09/2025 at 21:09:30

Dave #22

Completely correct: if a club withdraws a player from international duty because of injury, the country can insist on him travelling and their medical staff can assess the player for injury. Fergie did it loads of times for International friendlies.

John Raftery 28 Posted 03/09/2025 at 21:43:58

Mykolenko’s contract expires next June. It’s always awkward for a player suffering recurring injury issues in the final year of his contract. The Ukrainian has an history of injuries. After first arriving at the club in 2022 he played for 18 months with a hip problem until it was remedied with some specialist treatment.

Mykolenko never strikes me as a shirker, exactly the opposite in fact, but at this point in his career he obviously needs to get himself fully fit just as the club needs him to be fully fit. If that means he drops out for a few matches, so be it.

Mike Morgan 29 Posted 03/09/2025 at 21:48:03

Earlier comment spot on. Why did he play the full game against Mansfield !!!

Si Cooper 30 Posted 03/09/2025 at 22:01:08

During the transfer window there were posts that suggested that Roma had a surfeit of full backs and we might benefit from some intra-stable trading.

That went quiet, presumably because we weren’t that interested in them or vice versa. Should that attitude change after the transfer window has shut is there a way of exploiting it?

I read that Sevilla terminated Kelechi Iheanacho’s contract by mutual consent to make it easier for him to find another club and then he signed for Celtic. Could Roma do that for one of their players if he assesses his current competition and decides he’s got a better chance of being a starter for us than at Roma? Or are their rules in place that prevent such a thing from happening?

Jonathan Oppenheimer 31 Posted 03/09/2025 at 23:46:05

I went back to explore the question of why he played the entire match against Mansfield.

He actually came off in the 87th minute for Jake O'Brien, when we were still up only 1-0. Assuming he was feeling fine and we didn't want to risk giving up a goal at the end, it might make sense we kept him on, as Seamus was playing and Aznou and Patterson weren't healthy.

The best option then would've been to take him off after 60 minutes and move Dwight McNeil back there and Tim Iroegbunam to midfield, or something like that. Certainly feels like too much football in 3 days for someone coming off an injury.

Ajay Gopal 33 Posted 04/09/2025 at 03:30:05

I believe Aznou played in an U21 game during midweek? Some TWers who watched the game did not give glowing reports of his performance.

Hopefully he trains well during the next 10 days and Moyes gives him a chance to play left-back against Aston Villa. Playing Röhl there would also be an option, as he has played that position before apparently.

The safest option, which Moyes will probably adopt, would be play Garner there again, which is obviously not the optimum choice.

Ernie Baywood 34 Posted 04/09/2025 at 05:43:52

Ajay, I'd put good money on Mykolenko starting at left-back.

Alan J Thompson 35 Posted 04/09/2025 at 05:58:18

Mr Moyes won't like this, somebody publicly announcing that we have a player likely to be out injured for a while.

Is this why we've signed so many who have a left-footed preference? Worked for Ray Wilson.

Gerry Quinn 36 Posted 04/09/2025 at 07:23:39

Everton accused of “blatant unprofessionalism and amateurism” after player pulls out of international duty

Ukrainian Sports Doctor suggests that Everton have acted unprofessionally in their treatment of Mykolenko.

“Mykolenko left the national team due to a diagnosed muscle problem,” he said.

“A big thank you to Everton who managed to get the player back on the pitch on the 18th day after his muscle injury and immediately gave him two 90-minute games in three days.

“This is blatant unprofessionalism and amateurism. There are a lot of emotions, let them look for the guilty, but this is the structure of the barbell – from the coaching to the medical staff of Everton.

“It's incredible that this is happening at a club of the English Premier League level in 2025.

“It is difficult for me to imagine how a coach with the appropriate coaching education and understanding of football can make such decisions and deliberately expose a player to the risk of injury, which does not benefit the club, the national team, the player himself, or even the coach himself, who loses a key fighting unit.

“Now he is awaiting rehabilitation, because a repeated injury requires significantly more time to recover.”

Andrew Merrick 38 Posted 04/09/2025 at 07:39:39

Not sounding good, very poor management by the sound of it.

The full-back situation has been with us for too many windows, again, poor management. Changes are ongoing, but this issue should have been priority.

Ajay, according to TransferMarkt, Röhl has never played left-back. They also state he has never played right-back or centre-back. Practically everything else, mind you.

I see the press have picked up on Jack Grealish enjoying himself abroad. You would think with Gaza, Trump and the looneyville get together in China, with Putin, Xi and Kim, alongside an army of brainwashed soldiers and heavy duty military equipment on parade, they'd have more important matters to write about.

Pete Neilson 40 Posted 04/09/2025 at 08:00:46

It seemed a bit OTT for the comments to come from the Ukranian medical staff; on checking, that's because they haven't.

They were made by a guy called Dmytro Babelyuk who has 117(!!) Twitter/X followers. He's based at Bangor University researching “solving healthcare and clinical workforce shortage issues in the NHS, especially in rural areas of Wales”.

He's previously remotely “diagnosed” a Haarand injury with no access to the player or his records. File under Nonsense.

41 Posted 04/09/2025 at 10:23:49

I guess this shines a light on how fit for purpose is our medical team, seeing as the Ukraine medical team gave him an MRI scan to back up their prognosis. So why didn't the Everton medical team give him an MRI scan which would presumably show that the injury had healed enough for him to be considered fit enough to play 2 games in 3 days. I have heard many managers talking about injured players and most have said the medical team will tell me when a player is ready to start playing again, so is this the medical team not doing their job or has the player said he is fit to play or has the manager put pressure on the player to play.