“The legendary coach talked about his attempts to sign Neymar, his special relationship with Rinat Akhmetov and the creation of a unique system for training Brazilian talents in Donetsk.”, — write: football.ua
The legendary coach talked about his attempts to sign Neymar, his special relationship with Rinat Akhmetov and the creation of a unique system for training Brazilian talents in Donetsk.
Mircea Lucescu Getty Images December 25, 2025, 10:52 p.m
Lucescu noted that his main task was not just to win trophies, but to build a system. He emphasized that he convinced the president of the club, Rinat Akhmetov, to invest not in ready-made stars, but in young talents capable of growth. It is interesting that Shakhtar’s goals at one time included future stars of world football:
“I saw Neymar and Casemiro – they were great, but I was told that it was impossible to take them. OK, we found others. Douglas Costa, Teixeira, Fernandinho came,” the coach recalls.
According to Lucescu, Donetsk managed to create an ideal model: the club made a lot of money from sales, but always had a ready replacement for every position. Mircea Lucescu highly appreciated the contribution of the club president, stressing that Akhmetov invested everything in the team. The result of this synergy was the most beautiful stadium in Europe – Donbas Arena and regular victories over the top clubs of the continent.
The biggest pain for Lucescu remains the forced departure from Donetsk in 2014. By that time, Shakhtar had become a formidable force, claiming the high stages of the Champions League playoffs every year.
“Do you know how difficult it is to achieve recognition for a team from the East at this level? If the war in Donbas had not started, maybe we would have been able to win the Champions League one day,” the expert concluded.
We will remind, under the leadership of Mircea Lucescu, Shakhtar won the UEFA Cup in 2009 and became the champion of Ukraine 8 times.