Having moved 45 miles east from his home city of Verkhnodniprovsk to Ukraine’s fourth-largest city Dnipro with his family at the age of 12, Yehor Yarmoliuk joined the now-defunct club’s academy and signed his first professional contract with unofficial successor club, SC Dnipro-1 - aged just 15 - in May 2019.
The following season, he became the second-youngest player to start a match in the history of the Ukrainian Premier League at the age of 16 years and 140 days and, over the course of the next two seasons, he starred for Ukraine Under-19s national team, while also being handed his U21s debut four months before his 17th birthday.
On 24 February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Sporting events were immediately suspended and the 2021/22 season was cancelled altogether two months later. Less than five months later, he signed a three-year deal at Brentford and joined straight up with the B team.
Yarmoliuk was named on the first-team bench on four occasions in his first season at the club and, during the forgettable Carabao Cup shootout defeat to Gillingham in November, he made his debut as a late replacement for Frank Onyeka.
A promising start was brought to an end by a hamstring injury that ruled him out of the second half of 2022/23.
But he had made his mark. In the summer of 2023, he was rewarded with a new five-year contract, with a club option to extend by a further 12 months, and promoted to the first-team squad as his rise continued at breakneck speed.
“He believes in himself, but he’s humble,” said Thomas Frank earlier in 2024.
“He’s always one of the hardest workers and that’s one of the biggest reasons why he’s progressing so well. I’m not in doubt when I either start him or put him on the pitch. I know what I will get from him, so I trust him. That’s a big thing.”
The midfielder - who doesn’t turn 21 until March 2025 - was included in the matchday squad for every single one of Brentford’s games in 2023/24, making seven starts and coming off the bench 23 times.
He was also named in Ukraine’s reserve squad for Euro 2024, before the final cut, giving an indication of what is sure to come in the future.