Shakhtar Donetsk have confirmed that Arsenal are interested in signing Mykhailo Mudryk but no offer has been tabled for the winger.
The 23-year-old has been identified as the club’s ‘priority target’ for the January transfer window with Mikel Arteta keen to add more firepower to a squad that is currently top of the Premier League.
Shakhtar have previously valued Mudryk around the €100 million mark but it’s widely believed they are posturing and will accept terms considerably lower than that.
Speaking to TVPlay, Nicolini said: “Today, Mudryk has been told, like all other players, to present himself for the training in Antalya on the 9th of January. There is interest from Arsenal, I cannot deny it.”
Given the winger’s reputation as one of his country’s most exciting talents, it comes as no surprise that we’re not the only club sniffing around.
That said, deputy sporting director Carlo Nicolini claims clubs in his native Italy probably won’t be in the running.
“Many clubs have taken an indirect interest in Mudryk, without an official offer. There have been a lot of phone calls.
“I believe that today the Italian teams find it difficult to take a profile like this, both for what it is worth and for the lack of courage in investing in such a profile.”
Even if Arsenal are interested, it’s unlikely any transfer activity will be completed by the club in the first days of January.
That means we’ll need to make do with what we’ve got when football restarts on Boxing Day and for several games in the new year. With questions over the fitness status of several players, we’re going to need to be focused on the job at hand.
Another up and coming youngster, let’s hope he can slot in for Jesus (or Martinelli can move over) and that he can help us score. The stated price is crazy, I’d be happy with him at a fair price.
Beth Mead is nominated for BBC Sports Personality of the Year, tonight is the night to vote for her. Please do!
no
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/sports-personality is the link to vote.
He is 21, not 23
It’s great that he is a huge Jesus fan, so much so that he’s had it tattooed on his neck (see above)!
But it should say “usually Jesus, sometimes Eddie.”
👌🏽
I’m taking it he is a Christian!Edu make it happen
What should be our cut off in terms of price?
£50m?
Even that sounds expenive to me, given he is still pretty young and not playing in a top league.
Yes. And a pound.
I’ll say £40m plus add-ons based on performance. That should be the maximum limit. Anything more than that will be excessive for an unproven talent in my opinion.
Looking at his tattoo, it’s apparent which striker in the Premier League he desires to play with. I’ll get my coat 🏃♂️
Shaktar are in a complicated legal/financial situation. FIFA allowed all foreign players in Ukrane to leave “temporarily” without compensation because of the Russian invasion (but of course the contracts keep running and many/most will expire before those players ever return to Ukraine and they can then leave permanently on a free). This doesn’t apply to Ukrainian players like Mudryk, but there are other issues with that, which I don’t fully understand. Shaktar are suing FIFA before CAS asking, I think, for compensation from FIFA. I don’t know where FIFA could possibly find the money though.
Marquinhos the other way for a year or two.