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Yehor Yarmolyuk’s Agent Believes Brentford Rise Was Built on Patience
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- Yehor Yarmolyuk’s Agent Believes Brentford Rise Was Built on Patience
(REUTERS)
Yehor Yarmolyuk 's emergence at Brentford has been held up as an example of why young players do not always need to rush towards the biggest available move.
Vadim Shablii, chief executive at ProStar Football Agency, who represents the Ukraine international, spoke to Flashscore about the choices facing young prospects and how Yarmolyuk's development reflects those decisions.
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Shablii's broader point is that there's no single path to the top. Some players thrive in elite academies, others need the rough and tumble of senior football. Yarmolyuk found a bit of both at Brentford , where the B-team programme helped bridge the gap to the Premier League.
The Ukrainian arrived from SC Dnipro-1 in July 2022, just 18 years old, and started out with Neil MacFarlane's B team instead of jumping straight into the senior squad.
In his first season, Yarmolyuk made 16 appearances for the B team, scoring three goals and adding two assists. More importantly, he faced older, more experienced opponents, an ideal way to adapt to English football without the weight of Premier League expectations.
Shablii summarised the progression simply:
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"Step by step, he went through his journey."
But it wasn't just about football. Yarmolyuk was still a teenager, settling into a new country, learning a new language, and getting to grips with a different football culture.
His representatives played their part off the pitch, helping him settle so he could focus on making his mark at Brentford . The club, for their part, didn't rush him into the first team before he was ready.
He did get a taste of senior football that first year, coming off the bench against Gillingham in the Carabao Cup in November 2022. Injury cut his season short, but by the following summer, Brentford had seen enough to promote him to the first-team squad for 2023/24.
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His Premier League debut came against Burnley in October 2023, and from there his role only grew.
By 2024/25, Yarmolyuk had racked up 35 appearances, 31 of them in the Premier League, and started nine of Brentford 's last ten games. He made his senior debut for Ukraine and signed a new deal through to 2031, with the club holding an option for another year.
Under Keith Andrews , the progress kept coming. Yarmolyuk passed the 2,000-minute mark, scored his first Brentford goal, and became a regular in midfield during 2025/26.
For Shablii, the lesson isn't that every young player needs a year in the B team. It's that development, not reputation or impatience, should shape a career.
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"The main lesson from his story is that a young player should not rush."
Yarmolyuk wasn't thrown in before he was ready. Brentford gave him real minutes, senior training, and a clear path to the first team.
Four years on, patience has paid off. Brentford now have a Premier League midfielder, not just a player with potential.
