Yaremchuk officially replaces El Kaabi on the Europa League list | OneFootball

Olympiacos Preseason Training Phase 2: Giorgos Matthaios/EUROKINISSI

Ten days can change a footballer's career. At the beginning of September, Roman Yaremchuk was outside Olympiacos' Europa League squad and apparently somewhere near the margins of the club's plans.

On Tuesday, UEFA officially listed him as Olympiacos' No. 11 for the Europa League and on Wednesday night, there is a genuine possibility that he will lead the attack at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium.

Few players at Olympiacos have experienced a reversal quite this dramatic. The catalyst, of course, is desperately unfortunate.

Ayoub El Kaabi's serious injury created a hole in the Olympiacos attack that could not be solved simply by moving another name around a team sheet. Olympiacos submitted the Moroccan striker's medical documentation to UEFA and invoked the competition regulations allowing a long-term injury replacement.

UEFA's updated squad now confirms the change. El Kaabi has disappeared from the registered forwards. Yaremchuk has taken his place. That administrative alteration tells only part of the story because Yaremchuk's return represents one of the more remarkable personnel reversals of Olympiacos' season.

The man who wasn't supposed to be here

When Olympiacos submitted their original Europa League squad on September 3, Yaremchuk was one of the notable omissions. El Kaabi and Armando González were included. Jota Silva provided another attacking option. Yaremchuk was left outside alongside Clayton and several others.

That decision appeared to provide a fairly clear indication of his position in the hierarchy. The Ukrainian had spent the second half of last season on loan at Lyon and entered the summer without an obvious route back into a prominent Olympiacos role. Then football intervened.

El Kaabi suffered the kind of injury that instantly changes squad planning. Yaremchuk returned to competitive action against Volos on September 8, his first official Olympiacos appearance in roughly eight months.

Now he is back on the European list. The transformation is complete.

Now Imanol has a decision

The timing becomes even more interesting because Olympiacos have simultaneously changed coaches.

Imanol Alguacil inherited a striker hierarchy constructed for José Luis Mendilibar.

He is already having to rewrite it. Greek reporting around the final training sessions before Jagiellonia suggests Yaremchuk has moved firmly into contention for the starting position, potentially replacing Armando González. Santiago Hezze and Gelson Martins are also being considered for returns to the XI.

There is logic behind the Yaremchuk option. At 1.91 metres, he gives Olympiacos a conventional reference point against Jagiellonia's centre-backs. That matters particularly in the opening European match of a new coaching era. Alguacil is unlikely to have reconstructed Olympiacos' possession mechanisms in less than a week. There will inevitably be moments when the team needs simpler solutions: playing through pressure, attacking crosses, contesting second balls and occupying defenders inside the penalty area.

Yaremchuk can perform those functions and unlike a newly signed striker, he already understands the club, the stadium and many of the players around him. For one night at least, familiarity has considerable value.

The Mouandilmadji complication

Then comes the fascinating subplot. Olympiacos are simultaneously closing in on Marius Mouandilmadji.

The reported agreement with Samsunspor suggests the club still believes another centre-forward is required despite Yaremchuk's reintegration, but UEFA registration means the two situations cannot immediately converge in Europe.

The long-term injury provision allowed Olympiacos to replace El Kaabi. They chose Yaremchuk. That means Mouandilmadji, should his transfer be finalized, cannot simply arrive in Piraeus and enter the current Europa League squad. Reporting in Greece indicates his opportunity for European registration would come later, after the league phase.

Domestically, Imanol could potentially have González, Yaremchuk and Mouandilmadji available.

In Europe, the current choice is narrower and suddenly that makes Yaremchuk much more important.

Eight matches to rewrite the story

The Europa League league phase gives Olympiacos eight matches. For Yaremchuk, they could represent something else entirely: eight opportunities to change the trajectory of his Olympiacos career.

His first spell in Piraeus never quite established him as an undisputed starting striker. He has produced useful moments and important goals, but El Kaabi's extraordinary reliability made opportunities difficult to sustain.

Now the circumstances have changed. There is a new coach. There is no El Kaabi. There is a new striker potentially arriving who cannot immediately take Yaremchuk's European place and there is a Europa League campaign beginning at home.

A week ago, Roman Yaremchuk was an Olympiacos player without a place on the European list.

Tomorrow night, he could walk out at Karaiskakis as the club's starting centre-forward.

Football rarely provides second chances this quickly.

What Yaremchuk does with this one may determine whether his unexpected return becomes merely a response to an injury — or the beginning of an entirely different Olympiacos story.