Former Barcelona flop reflects on failed stint: “Made mistakes that are not acceptable”

When one talks about some of the worst transfers Barcelona have made in their history, the name of one Dmytro Chygrynskiy is bound to come up.

It was in the summer of 2009, right after he had won the UEFA Cup with Shakhtar Donetsk that the defender was signed by Barça, who had at the time won the UEFA Champions League.

Just 22 years old at the time, Chygrynskiy had already established himself as a mainstay for the Ukrainian giants and even captained the team. And, he had the best team on the planet at the time pushing for his signing.

Speaking about the moment that led to the transfer to Barcelona, in an interview with Toni Juanmarti, Chygrynskiy said:

“We were in the same Champions League group with Sporting and Basel. In Donetsk, we played very well although we lost 1-2 at the end. After the game, Jordi Cruyff, who was at Metalurg Donetsk at the time, told me that Guardiola was raving about me. The truth is that I never thought it would go any further.”

Revealing an early conversation with Pep Guardiola, then-manager of Barça, Chygrynskiy said: “The moment when I really saw that it was serious was when Guardiola called me while I was in Switzerland for pre-season. That’s when I really got ‘scared’. Pep told me: ‘I want you to be Piqué’s partner for many years. Trust me, I like your ball control, your first pass…’. I was in shock.”

Having won the UEFA Cup with Shakhtar, Chygrynskiy then got the chance to play against Barça in the European Super Cup, just days before he signed for the Blaugrana for €25 million. Reliving the surreal moment, he said:

“As I walked past, some of the Barcelona players hugged me and said: ‘Welcome to Barça, Dmytro’. It was nice of them. I had mixed feelings, to be honest. It was the farewell that had to be.”

On interacting with legends like Xavi Hernandez and Zlatan Ibrahimovic after signing for Barcelona, he said: “I spoke to Xavi, who was concerned about me and asked me a few questions. He even joked with me about the man-marking we had done on him in the final (laughs). It was all very easy, the atmosphere was very good. I hung out a lot with Maxwell and Ibrahimovic.”

However, things did not work out as planned for Chygrynskiy from that point on as he found it hard to break into Guardiola’s lineup. The Ukrainian admitted to pushing himself to the limit and not heeding to the manager’s advice at the time, which contributed to his struggles.

“I was in too much of a hurry. I put too much pressure on myself. Pep told me: ‘Just do what I ask you to do, don’t overthink’,” he recollected.

“Unfortunately, experience comes with time, not when you’re young. I don’t regret anything, I gave my best. But if I could go back, I would listen more. To Pep, to the physical trainers, to my environment… But I wanted to do everything immediately.”

Reflecting on how he needed to be more patient at the time, the defender added: “Now I think about it and it was a great opportunity to learn without rushing from Márquez, Milito, Puyol… but at the same time you have the ambition to play. You’re not satisfied with just being there. You want to be important.”

Chygrynskiy’s career at Barcelona came to an end just after a year, with the defender making just 14 appearances, much of which were filled with errors that ended up sealing his future.

“It’s Barça. You’re not going to get two, three, or four chances. If you’re not good enough, one year is a long time. On a general level, I don’t think I failed, but if we talk about some specific games, yes, I failed. And that’s the price you pay at Barça,” he said.

“I made mistakes that are not acceptable at Barça, because the bar is set very high.”

On working under a legend like Guardiola, Chygrynskiy said: “It was a unique experience for me and I always felt his support. In any case, I disappointed him, but not the other way around. He saw the effort I put in each day, and he appreciated it. He helped me a lot. We had many conversations, I can only be grateful.”

After leaving Barcelona, Chygrynskiy returned to Shakhtar Donets and spent close to five years at the club before signing for Dnipro. In 2016, he moved to Greece by signing for AEK Athens, where he was until 2021.

At 36, Chygrynskiy plies his trade for Ionikos Nikeas in Greece, whom he joined in 2021.

Talking about what he learned from his time at Barcelona, he said: “It’s hard to stick with just one aspect, but being among the best, even being the worst among the best, I would say that it is not a great shame. It was a unique experience, an opportunity to learn from great players and great personalities.”