A year ago, Ilya Szkurin was rather unwanted by Polish clubs. Stal Mielec acquired him, helped him with formal matters and now the player will probably leave for more than EUR 3 million.
Stal Mielec knows how to promote strikers. Last season, Said Hamulic shined in the team and after a good autumn round, he was sold to the French Toulouse for over EUR 2 million. Today, Ilya Shukurin is the star of Stal. The striker, who bounced back from Raków Częstochowa in the spring of 2022 (that is, he had practically no chance there), is now the leading sniper of the PKO Ekstraklasa.
Today, Szkurin is three goals behind Erik Exposito and theoretically he still counts in the fight for the top scorer’s crown. However, these are probably his last weeks in Poland. He has been in the notebooks of many European clubs for a long time.
In March, the club’s president, Jacek Klimek, said in Channel Sportowy that he would be able to negotiate if someone offered EUR 2.5 million for Szkurin. Let us remind you that his contract is valid until June 30, 2025, with an option to extend it for another twelve months. However, the chances of staying in Mielec are illusory.
– This is very unlikely. If I had to rate it, it would be 95%. he will not be at Stal next season – tells us Roman Skorupa, the agent who brought the player to Stal.
– Already in the winter, there were a lot of calls and inquiries from other clubs, but it was not the time to transfer. Ilja is only now fully becoming a Stal player, says Skorupa.
And here it is worth stopping for a moment. Previously, Shukurin was only on loan from CSKA Moscow and due to the war, any negotiations would be problematic. Formally, his contract with CSKA ends on June 30. The clubs contacting Stal were not fully aware of the situation. However, in the coming summer, nothing stands in the way of an outgoing transfer.
And to make things more interesting… last summer there weren’t many people interested in Szkurin. He was rather unwanted, apart from Stal, another Polish team was interested in him, but they decided on a different option. Steel was more specific and in retrospect I certainly don’t regret this move. She took the player for free, helped him with formal matters, and now she will earn a lot of money.
Because now Stal can dictate terms and increase the price. The above-mentioned EUR 2.5 million is not an exaggerated amount. – I think that today the starting price is even higher – says Skorupa.
Stal will have basically no arguments to keep the Belarusian for next season. These are probably his last weeks in Poland, because it is difficult to expect that any other club from the Ekstraklasa would be able to afford such a large transfer. – This will not happen unless Polish clubs change their transfer policy and take a player for three million and then sell him for ten. This would be very interesting, but it is rather unrealistic – emphasizes Skorupa.
The price for Shukurin could have been even higher if, for example, he had shown his good side in the Belarusian national team, but he never even made his debut in the senior team. And it probably won’t happen soon, because Shukurin has made it clear – in 2020 he resigned from playing for the national team (interestingly, he did it via Instagram), he has been consistently opposing the regime of Alexander Lukashenko for years and does not intend to play for the national team as long as the dictator is in power. country. The federation even threatened him with suspension when he did not show up for the youth training camp in September 2020, even though he was called up. After a few months, FIFA sided with the player and there was no suspension.
In 2019, Shukurin became the top scorer in the Belarusian Premier League. In January, he moved to CSKA Moscow, signed a five-year contract, but quickly fled Russia. He was loaned out to Dynamo Kiev, Rakov, Maccabi Petach Tikva, and then to Stal.