Pet, when a club shifts a player at quarter past midnight on the first night of a new season, you know somebody's been staring at a spreadsheet they don't like. That's exactly what happened to Lanús — and the numbers behind Michael de Leeuw's move to Cherkasy are an absolute horror show.

Let me lay it out, because the dates do the talking here.

The 5.3M mistake

Back on 11 July 2025, Lanús splashed out 5,305,011 SVC to prise the Dutch forward away from his previous club. A 38-year-old striker for over five million — bold. The logic? At the time, de Leeuw was carrying a tasty shooting rating of 79. On paper, a poacher worth backing.

It did not go to plan. Across his half-season in Argentina, de Leeuw broke down again and again — four separate injury spells in the second campaign alone: late July, a fortnight in August and September, another in late September into October, and again in November. You can't bank goals from the treatment table.

Sold the second the ratings reset

Here's the kicker. Season 3 kicked off at midnight on 3 January 2026. At that exact rollover, de Leeuw's overall rating was recalculated — and his shooting tumbled from 79 down to 71. Fifteen minutes and seventeen seconds later, at 00:15, Lanús had him out the door to Cherkasy for 1,010,002 SVC.

That's not a coincidence, that's a manager who saw the new numbers land on a 39-year-old and bolted for the exit before the ink was dry. RoyalCrownAffair cut the cord and took the cash.

The damage? Lanús paid 5.3M and recouped 1.01M — a 4,295,009 SVC loss in under six months, roughly 81% of the fee gone up in smoke. Brutal. But honestly? It was the right call. You don't throw good money after a 39-year-old's wages (11,105 SVC a week) when the asset's only heading one direction.

Has it hurt Lanús? Not a bit

Don't go feeling sorry for them. The Argentines are flying — third in ARG Division 1, form reading WDLDWW, a healthy 3.4M-SVC bank balance and a squad valued at 37.6M with an average rating of 75. The de Leeuw punt stings on the ledger, but they've moved on without missing a beat. Chalk it up as an expensive lesson and crack on.

And Cherkasy? They caught the same cold

This is where it gets properly grim for the buyers. Novellino's Cherkasy — a tidy little Ukrainian outfit, just 2,578 fans and a 10,321-seat ground, but sitting on a monster 23.8M-SVC war chest — gambled the million on de Leeuw breathing life into their season.

It didn't take. By 27 April 2026, fewer than four months later, they'd flogged him on to Crotone for just 301,999 SVC. That's a 708,003 SVC loss of their own — about 70% wiped — on a player they barely got a return from. Cherkasy currently sit ninth in UKR Division 1 (form LDDWDL), so the veteran spark never caught fire there either.

The bottom line

De Leeuw's a cautionary tale wearing boots. Two clubs, two heavy losses, one depreciating 39-year-old. His current market value? A mere 154,333 SVC at Crotone — a long way down from the 5.3M Lanús once handed over.

The moral, as ever on this beat: ratings spikes on ageing strikers are a trap, and the smart money sells the instant the season clock ticks over. Lanús learned it the hard way. Cherkasy paid to learn it too.