Manchester City have been given Premier League permission to let Ukrainian refugee Andrii Kravchuk train with the club.
The move follows intervention by City and Ukraine defender Oleksandr Zinchenko.
The pair played together at youth level at Shakhtar Donetsk.
Kravchuk was on a training camp in Turkey with his Russian club side Torpedo Moscow when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.
The 23-year-old midfielder has now terminated his contract and fled to Manchester, where he will train with City’s Under-23 squad for the remainder of the season.
“I felt really uncomfortable,” Kravchuk said about playing for a Russian club.
“I was playing in a country that invaded my homeland. Leaving the club was the only decision. People in Ukraine would not understand me if I continued to play there.”
Kravchuk’s family remain in Kyiv, where his brother Aleks is fighting in the country’s armed forces.
“I tell him every day how proud I am of him, for not only protecting our family but the whole country and the Ukrainian people. He is staying and fighting,” Kravchuk explained.
“I’m really worried. I am in groups on my phone and always receiving messages with bombing alerts. Every time those alerts come through I am so anxious. Your only thought is that my family can die.
Kravchuk said he is “so grateful” to Manchester City for allowing him to train at the club and to his compatriot Zinchenko for help in finding a solution.
“The past few weeks and months have been so difficult, but to be back on the pitch means so much to me,” he said.
Zinchenko said that he wished the “circumstances were very different” but it was “good to be back with Andrii”.
“I know how much football means to him and how it can help us during these difficult times,” Zinchenko said.
Earlier this month, the Premier League blocked Burnley’s bid for Victor Moses from Spartak Moscow despite Fifa amending their rules to allow overseas players in the Russian Premier League to sign for clubs in other countries outside the transfer window.
But as Kravchuk is only training, they have agreed to let him join City, so he can maintain his fitness and continue his development.
