Inside the Making of Adam Guram: A Future Star in Football
From Vitalii Mykolenko at Everton to Yehor Yarmolyuk at Brentford, the pathway from Ukraine to the Premier League is no longer a dream. It is a plan. And at the centre of many of those plans stands one man: agent Vadym Shablii.
His next project might be the most delicate yet.
Seventeen-year-old attacking midfielder Adam Guram, already in the first team at Hajduk Split, has been linked with Arsenal and Chelsea. He has not completed a full season of senior football, but the radar of Europe’s elite has locked on early.
Shablii understands why.
“Clubs can see his potential,” he explains. Guram is still a teenager, but those around him talk about his feel for the game, his technical quality, his attitude. He wants to work. He wants to learn. Those are the foundations big clubs look for long before they care about highlight reels.
Shablii’s message, though, is restraint. Step by step. No shortcuts.
He stresses that Guram still has “a lot to go through and a lot to learn,” and the priority now is not the size of the badge on the shirt but the pace of his development. Rushing a 17-year-old into the wrong move can derail a career before it even starts.
Guiding a Teenager Through the Storm
With players this young, the role of the agent stretches far beyond contract clauses and transfer talks. It becomes part mentor, part shield.
“When a player is very young, our role is not only to manage his career, but also to help him deal with different situations that he is facing for the first time,” Shablii says.
The list is long: the first professional contract, interest from heavyweight clubs, media attention, the sudden noise around a name that was anonymous just a year earlier. Any one of those can twist a career. All of them at once can overwhelm it.
That is why, in his view, the circle around a young player must be small and trusted. Advice has to be honest, not flattering. Decisions must be made with the long term in mind, not the next headline.
“Our job is to support him, give objective advice, and help him make decisions that will be good for his development in the long term,” he explains. The player and his family, though, always have the final say.
The Lure – and Weight – of a Big Move
The links to Arsenal and Chelsea bring glamour, but also a question: how much pressure is too much, too soon?
“A big transfer at such a young age is a serious step,” Shablii admits. It opens doors and creates new opportunities, but it also drops a teenager into an environment where every training session feels like an exam.
For Shablii, the decision is never just about the size of the club. He talks about playing time, the coach, the club’s track record with young players, and the daily environment that will shape a 17-year-old’s habits.
You do not simply sign for a crest; you sign for a pathway.
In that context, Guram’s early breakthrough at Hajduk Split matters. “Adam made his first-team debut for Hajduk Split at just 17 years old, and that says a lot,” Shablii points out. It shows not only ability but mental readiness to handle senior football. That psychological step is often the hardest.
Academy or First Team? No One-Size-Fits-All
The modern game offers two main routes for a young talent: jump into a top club’s academy or cut your teeth in senior football at a lower level. Shablii refuses to preach a single model.
“There is no one right answer or approach for every player,” he says. Personality, character, and circumstance all matter.
He leans on the example of Yehor Yarmolyuk. Before breaking into Brentford’s first team, Yarmolyuk spent a season in the club’s Brentford B setup, a unique project that throws youngsters into physically demanding friendlies against senior sides. It was a bridge, not a detour.
For some, Shablii argues, a top academy offers elite facilities, high-level coaching, and fierce internal competition. For others, nothing replaces the rhythm and reality of regular first-team football.
“The most important thing is that a young player is in the right environment, where he can get regular playing time and continue to develop,” he says. The badge is secondary. The minutes are everything.
Responsibility, Not Panic
With careers on the line, the pressure on agents can be immense. Shablii prefers another word.
“Of course, there is always a sense of responsibility,” he concedes. The choices made at 17 can define where a player stands at 27. But he does not frame it as pressure. For him, it is a duty.
He describes a methodical process: gather information, examine every angle, strip away emotion, and present the player with clear, objective advice. Then decide together, with the family involved.
The agent’s job is not to live the player’s life for him. It is to make sure he understands the consequences of every step he takes.
The Chelsea Question: Long Contracts, Long Horizons
Chelsea’s recent strategy with young players has drawn attention across Europe: extremely long contracts, sometimes stretching to eight years. For a teenager, that can look like a golden ticket.
Shablii recognises the appeal. A long-term deal at that level signals serious belief from the club and a willingness to invest in a player’s growth over time.
But he warns against being blinded by the number of years on the paper.
He insists the key questions lie elsewhere: What role does the club really see for the player? What is the development plan? How much playing time is realistic? A long contract without a clear pathway can trap a career just as easily as it can secure it.
Yarmolyuk’s Road: A Lesson in Patience
If Guram needs a blueprint, he does not have to look far. Yarmolyuk’s journey at Brentford offers a case study in patience and planning.
“He came to England at a very young age, from a different football environment,” Shablii recalls. The adaptation went beyond tactics and training sessions. New country, new language, a different football culture – all of it takes time.
Shablii worked to strip away off-field distractions so Yarmolyuk could focus on football. Slowly, the steps followed. First Brentford B. Then training with the first team. Then minutes. Then importance.
Now, Yarmolyuk is part of a Premier League squad on merit, not promise.
“The main lesson from his story is that a young player should not rush,” Shablii says. Find a club that knows how to work with young talent. Trust the process. Improve every day. The rest comes.
Mykolenko and the Value of Stability
Not every decision involves a new adventure. Sometimes the smartest move is staying put.
Vitali Mykolenko’s new deal at Everton is one such example. It was not, Shablii says, a snap choice. Every contract renewal brings serious discussion. But in this case, the alignment was clear.
Mykolenko knows the Premier League. He knows Everton. He feels comfortable at the club and understands his place in the dressing room and on the pitch.
For Shablii, the key was Everton’s stance. The defender needed to feel that the club genuinely counted on him and saw him as part of their long-term project. Once that was clear, extending the relationship made sense for all sides.
The Premier League’s Pull – and the Need for Balance
Hovering over all of this is the gravitational force of the Premier League. Its financial power shapes the transfer market and draws in talent from every corner of the world.
“The Premier League certainly has a special place in world football today,” Shablii says. For players, it offers a stage of relentless intensity and global exposure. The opportunities are obvious.
He also recognises the wider picture. Football, he argues, needs a degree of balance. Healthy competition between leagues and clubs makes the game richer, more unpredictable, stronger.
He does not criticise the Premier League’s rise. On the contrary, he credits the work of the clubs, the league, and the global interest that English football has generated. The attraction is earned, not accidental.
For Guram and others like him, that attraction is real and immediate. The question now is not whether the Premier League will come calling.
It is whether, when it does, they will be ready to answer at the right time, in the right way, for the careers they want to build.
