Building Adam Guram: A Modern Star's Journey
Everton’s Vitalii Mykolenko and Brentford’s Yehor Yarmolyuk have already climbed to the Premier League, proof that Serhii Shablii’s clients know the route to the top. Now another name is edging onto that path: 17-year-old Hajduk Split attacking midfielder Adam Guram, a teenager already linked with Arsenal and Chelsea before he has even completed a full senior season.
For Shablii, the attraction is obvious. So is the danger.
Clubs see a young player who reads the game with unusual maturity, who marries strong technical ability with a serious attitude to work. Guram, he says, wants to learn, wants to improve, wants to stay on the training pitch a little longer. That combination – talent plus appetite – is what draws the superclubs.
But Shablii is in no rush to cash in the ticket.
He stresses that Guram still has “a lot to go through and a lot to learn,” and that the priority is not the size of the badge on his chest, but the pace of his development. Step by step. Not leap by leap.
Guiding a teenager through the storm
With players this young, an agent’s role changes. It becomes less about brokering the next big move and more about shielding a teenager from the whirlwind that follows sudden attention.
Shablii talks about first professional contracts, interest from major clubs, the glare of the media – all arriving at once for a 17-year-old who, a year earlier, was just another academy prospect. These are the moments, he believes, when a player most needs people around him he can trust, people who will tell him the truth, not what he wants to hear.
His job, as he sees it, is to support, to offer objective advice, to help make decisions that serve the player’s long-term growth rather than short-term noise. That means sometimes saying no when the world expects a yes.
The weight of a big move at 17
A transfer to a giant at this age is not just a headline. It is a fault line.
Shablii calls it a “serious step” – one that opens doors but also piles on pressure. So the question for Guram is not simply whether a club like Arsenal or Chelsea wants him, but whether this is the right moment to take that leap.
He looks beyond the badge. Playing time, the head coach, the pathway from youth to first team, the daily training environment – these are the details that matter. The fact that Hajduk Split trusted Guram enough to hand him a first-team debut at 17 is, for Shablii, a key indicator: the boy is already mentally prepared to compete with grown men.
That readiness cannot be wasted on a move that leads only to the stands.
Academy prestige or senior minutes?
There is no single blueprint. No universal “best route” for every wonderkid.
Shablii points to Yarmolyuk’s path at Brentford as one example. Before breaking into the first team, the midfielder spent a season in the club’s distinctive Brentford B setup, testing himself physically in friendlies against senior sides. It was a bridge: tougher than youth football, but with enough protection to allow him to adapt.
For some, a top academy with elite facilities, high-level coaches and fierce internal competition is the right choice. For others, regular first-team football at a smaller club is far more valuable than the prestige of a famous training ground.
What matters most, Shablii insists, is the environment. A place where a young player plays often, develops steadily and is treated as a project, not a marketing asset.
Responsibility, not pressure
When careers can swing on a single decision, the temptation is to talk about pressure. Shablii resists that word.
He prefers “responsibility”. He knows that choices made at 17 can shape a career at 27. So he and his team work to gather every piece of information they can, to view each situation from all angles, and then to present the player with honest, clear advice.
One line never changes: the final call must rest with the player and his family. Not with agents, not with clubs. The career belongs to the footballer.
The lure of the long contract
Chelsea’s policy of offering extremely long deals to young players – sometimes up to eight years – has become one of the defining features of the current market. For a teenager, that kind of security and commitment from a club of that size is naturally appealing.
Shablii recognises the attraction. A long-term contract signals belief, investment, a plan. But he refuses to let the length of the deal become the deciding factor.
For him, the crucial questions are different: What role does the club see for the player? What is the pathway to the first team? How much football will he actually play? A long contract without minutes is not a career. It is a cage.
Yarmolyuk’s slow burn at Brentford
If Guram needs a case study, he does not have to look far.
Yarmolyuk arrived in England young, leaving behind a familiar football culture and language for something entirely new. He needed time – not just to adjust to the intensity of the Premier League, but to life off the pitch. Shablii spent hours with him, helping to smooth out the details away from football so that the midfielder could focus on the game.
The progression was gradual. Brentford B first. Then training with the senior squad. Then minutes. Then importance. Brick by brick, he became a genuine part of a Premier League team.
For Shablii, the lesson is clear: do not rush. Find a club that knows how to work with young players, trust the process, and commit to improving every day. The rest follows.
Mykolenko and the value of stability
At the other end of the spectrum sits Vitalii Mykolenko, no longer a prospect but a proven Premier League defender. His new contract with Everton, signed last month, was not automatic, but it was logical.
Shablii describes careful discussions, but also a strong understanding between player and club. Mykolenko knows Everton, knows the league, feels at home in the environment. The key was clarity: that the club genuinely count on him and see him as part of their long-term project.
Once that was established, staying put made sense for everyone.
The Premier League’s pull – and its limits
Hovering over all of this is the Premier League, the gravitational force of the modern transfer market. English clubs’ financial power gives them a clear advantage, and for players it opens up enormous opportunities: the chance to compete in one of the most demanding leagues in the world, with the visibility and intensity that brings.
Shablii acknowledges that dominance, but he also warns of the need for balance. Football thrives on competition between leagues and clubs. When several competitions are strong, the global game is richer and more compelling.
He does not blame the Premier League for its current allure. In his eyes, it is the product of years of work by clubs and organisers, backed by huge global interest. The challenge for everyone else is how to respond.
For Adam Guram and those guiding him, the question is sharper: when the strongest league in the world comes calling, is it the right time to answer – or the right time to wait?
