Butko returns to Lech

The 29-year-old right-back appeared on the Polish pitches 12 times throughout the spring round (10 times in the league, and twice in Polish Cup games). His great performance won him plenty of praise from supporters and experts alike. In the defence, Butko was practically unbeatable. Moreover, he was equally valuable in Lech’s offensive attempts. The Ukrainian joined the club from Poznań with an aim to win the interest of the National Team’s coach ahead of Euro 2020. However, the pandemic resulted in the European tournament being postponed to 2021. Nonetheless, Butko won a spot in Lech’s starting line-up and adapted to the team very well.

“Bohdan gave us the long-awaited quality and he has undoubtedly played a key role in the spring matches. Therefore, when the opportunity to extend his loan arose, we didn’t hesitate even for a moment. Our match schedule is going to be intense; excluding the Sunday match against Piast, we will play 16 games between October 17^th and December 20^th. Having qualified to Europa League group phase, we are now playing on all three fronts and we need the squad to be ready to handle the challenge. Hence, we decided to bring Butko on loan until December 31^st,” explained Tomasz Rząsa, Lech’s Sporting Director.

Bohdan Butko is a homegrown player of the current Ukrainian champions, however, before he was promoted to the senior team, he gathered experience at various clubs such as FC Volyn Lutsk, FK Mariupol, and Amkar Perm. Since the season 2016/17, he’s been representing Shakhtar Donetsk’s A team and appeared in 64 games in total, scoring once, and assisting his teammates 13 times. Throughout his span at Shakhtar, the 29-year-old defender won three championship titles, two national cups, and played in 10 Champions League games.

Butko has also regularly competed for the Ukrainian National Team. So far, he has 32 caps and his resume includes performances at Euro 2012 and 2016. The last time he played for his national team was back in March 2019 in the match against Luxembourg.

The Ukrainian player will join the rest of the team at the beginning of next week and he will begin preparations for the upcoming matches whilst a part of Lech’s squad joins their national teams.