Brighton 'looking closely' at Ukraine's next star with Prem switch 'increasingly likely'

So far, neither the Frenchman nor the Italian have started in the Premier League, and with Jan Paul Van Hecke looking likely to leave next year, the Seagulls are continuing to look for further reinforcements, and Dynamo Kyiv’s Taras Mykhavko has emerged as a potential target.
 
The 20-year-old is a left-footed centre-back who joined Kyiv in 2023 on a free transfer. The youngster quickly caught the attention of manager Oleksandr Shovkovskyi, and since then, he’s gone on to make 61 appearances for the Ukrainian side and play a key part in their title triumph last season, in which he was named the league’s Young Player of the Year.
 
According to TBR Football, Mykhavko is attracting plenty of interest from English and German sides, with Brighton, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, Newcastle, Brentford, RB Leipzig and Bayern Leverkusen all named among his suitors.
 
It’s said that the defensive starlet is one of the ‘most scouted players in the last 12 months’, and those who have watched him believe he is ready for the next step in his career, which is looking more and more likely to be a move to England.
 
A number of Ukrainians have already enjoyed success in the Premier League, such as Illia Zabarnyi, Yehor Yarmolyuk, and Vitaliy Mykolenko in recent years, and it’s this success, combined with their ability to settle quickly, that has so many English clubs starting to shop more regularly in that market.
 
Despite trying to sign Mykola Matviyenko in 2023, Brighton have never had a Ukrainian player in their senior squad, so if they were to sign him, it would further increase the growing list of nationalities represented in their squad, which was recently spoken about by owner Tony Bloom.