Oleksandr Hladkyy

Oleksandr Mykolayovych Hladkyy (Ukrainian: Олександр Миколайович Гладкий, born 24 August 1987) is a Ukrainian football forward who plays for Zorya Luhansk. He has also appeared for the Ukraine national team. His last name is variously transliterated into English as Hladkiy,Gladkiy and Gladkyy.

Club Career

Kharkiv

Hladkyy began his career in Metalist Kharkiv's football academy, and soon after, the young player was invited to another professional club from the Kharkiv, FC Kharkiv. Under direction of coach Volodymyr Bessonov, Hladkyy became a regular player for the club and soon established himself as one of the best strikers in the league. His first fame came in the 2006–07 season, when after scoring 13 goals to finish as the Ukrainian league's top scorer.

Shakhtar Donetsk

After this success, Hladkyy attracted the notice of giants Shakhtar Donetsk, and on 8 June 2007, he signed a five-year deal worth €2.5 million with the club. On his Shakhtar debut, a friendly match, he scored the winning goal. He scored two goals in another friendly.

On 7 May 2008, in the Ukrainian Cup final, during which he scored and also received a red card, Hladkyy earned the first trophy in his career when Shakhtar defeated rivals Dynamo Kyiv 2–0.

Hladkyy won the Premier League with Shakhtar that season, but fell one goal short of making Ukrainian Premier League history by being the top goalscorer for two consecutive years. However, with the addition of strikers Yevhen Seleznyov and Marcelo Moreno, and with coach Mircea Lucescu using only one forward in a 4-5-1 formation, Hladkyy had difficulty keeping his spot in the starting line-up or even a place on the bench, leaving his future in doubt. After 10 league games with only 1 win, Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu started Hladkyy, who scored in the 28th minute in a 3–0 win over Chornomorets Odessa. Mircea gave Hladkyy another starting opportunity due to an injury to Luiz Adriano, and he scored the third goal in