Arsenal are on the hunt for a winger in the second half of the season. According to information from Europe, Mykhaylo Mudryk is on the priority transfer list of coach Mikel Arteta. Last week, Football.London claimed that Arsenal had submitted an offer of £55m to Shakhtar Donetsk. That fee was rejected by the Ukrainian team.
Mudryk is being closely watched by Arsenal and Chelsea.
According to French news agency – Foot Mercato, Arsenal have sent a second offer to Shakhtar, however, the two sides are still in the process of negotiating.
At this point, Shakhtar’s position is quite clear. They want to sell Mudryk and understand that Mudryk also likes to move to the Premier League to play football. However, they want to make the most money from young Ukrainian talent.
Shakhtar has some wisdom in trying to extend the negotiating period for the deal. That allowed other clubs to jump in and drive up Mudryk’s price. Right now, it’s not just Arsenal who like Mudryk. Chelsea have also stepped in and are ready to stop Arsenal.
According to journalist Fabrizio Romano, Shakhtar director Darijo Srna will fly to London for negotiations in the next few days. Romano wrote on his personal Twitter: “Shahtar Donetsk director Darijo Srna will be in London this week and is expected to attend the Chelsea-Manchester City match.”
“Chelsea and Shakhtar will discuss Mudryk in the next 24 hours – Arsenal are still in direct talks and the player is their current priority,” Romano added.
As you know, Chelsea is facing certain difficulties in terms of form. Under Todd Boehly’s takeover, Chelsea were given quite a bit of money. However, the fact that the Blues are 8th in the table and are in danger of falling out of the Champions League group, causing Boehly to spend more money in January.
Chelsea have brought in a lot of new players since their new owners.
Mudryk is someone worth their investment in the near future. Not only young, Mudryk’s talent is also confirmed with 3 goals and 2 assists in the Champions League group stage. That’s the point where Shakhtar’s board reached out to scream his price up to 100 million euros last month.
Of course, nobody wants to pay Shakhtar 100 million euros right now. But the truth is “the money that comes first is the money that is wise”. We had a clear proof, when Liverpool approached and closed PSV’s Cody Gakpo for £ 37 million after just 48 hours of negotiation.
Before that, Gakpo seemed to have landed at Man Utd, in the context that this team pursued him aggressively all summer. Even coach Erik Ten Hag personally persuaded his compatriots in the last days of August.
With Arsenal, they can use the club’s form and long-term strategy to convince Mudryk. Young talents like him clearly have more land at the Emirates Stadium than at Stamford Bridge. However, as said, Arsenal need to close this deal quickly, as Liverpool did. Otherwise, with time pressure, maybe Chelsea will pile up a large sum of money on the negotiating table and beat all opponents.
Crouching Dragon | 21:02 04/01/2023
