Arsenal have tabled a first bid for Shakhtar Donetsk’s Mykhailo Mudryk as they look to recruit the winger in January.
Various reports claim the Gunners have put together a package worth up to €65 million with a significant chunk of that figure made up of add-ons based on the club’s and player’s success in the coming years.
Shakhtar, who have previously stated they want €100 million for the 21-year-old, are expected to reject the terms and will wait for Edu to make another move. They confirmed initial contact with Arsenal last week.
Mikel Arteta is keen to strengthen his squad as soon as possible with injuries currently leaving him short of options in reserve.
Mudryk certainly seems keen on a move to Emirates Stadium and shared on social media that he was watching the club’s 3-1 win over West Ham United on his iPad.
He has previously said he keeps tabs on the Gunners results and described the team as “dynamic”.
Asked to verify rumours of his interest in Mudryk, Arteta said last night: “You know that I never speak to other players that are not with us. And it might be that you have to ask me the question but we said that we will try to find ways to strengthen the team. We will find the right players and that’s all I can say.”
Pressed on the Ukrainian’s social media post, he joked: “It’s a good thing for England that you don’t have many other matches in other countries.
“We are the only ones playing through Christmas so hopefully, a lot of people watched our game and we gave them a good show.”
Mudryk wanting the world to know he was enjoying the Arsenal game tonight. pic.twitter.com/jtJ0WJVqKQ
— Charles Watts (@charles_watts) December 26, 2022
As things stand, Mudryk is expected to join up with Shakhtar Donetsk for a training camp in Turkey on 9th January.
Arsenal play Oxford United in an FA Cup third round tie at the Kassam Stadium that night and, if you ask us, it wouldn’t be a bad time for an Arsenal debut before a hat-trick in the north London derby the following Sunday.
No…you’re the ones getting carried away.
Sounds a lot for a 21 year old. Especially if he is competing with Saka and Martinelli and others on the wing. Let’s hope we don’t break the bank for him and hence don’t get to keep Saliba due to it.
What is it with you penny pinchers?
You’d be moaning even more if our sole intent was to make a £5M bid on a League 1 winger.
Some people are never satisfied…🙄
Because a clubs finances matter. Ask Leeds United what happens when you spend beyond your means (which we have for 3 years) for too long….
At the time, Leeds Utd were being run by incompetent idiots.
We aren’t.
Big difference.
Happy if we sign Mudryk, far happier if we keep Saliba.
You are correct. Let’s break the bank for this 21 year old winger and lose Saliba.
Why would that have any affect on whether Saliba signs a new contract? The fact that we are willing to strengthen the team could be incentive for him wanting to stay
Mudryk’s signing will have absolutely zero effect on our four current contract negotiations with Martinelli, Ramsdale, Saka, and Saliba.
Besides, the fee to Shakhtar will probably be amortised over the length of the player’s contract. So £50m could actually be £10m a year for five years.
As long as we don’t forget that a fee for Mudryk, however it’s paid, will almost certainly come from further loans to the club from the owner. Arsenal haven’t made a profit for some time and indeed the losses over the past few seasons in particular are colossal (in part due to Covid of course but we weren’t making much of a profit before that). That’s all more debt on the club – in addition to the existing debts – not least for the stadium for example – which hasn’t been paid off, although the interest charged has been eased.… Read more »
How the club borrowing from the owners to purchase players to win the league has become a problem for some on this site is frankly ridiculous. As the team does better, its revenues increase, the total value of the club increases and the debt as a percentage of value could actually decrease. Think I’ll trust the club and KSE to protect the clubs interests rather than the nervous key board warriors that populate this site.
Spot on. 👍🍺
Yeah, let’s stay low risk, keep what we have in the purse and blow our best chance of a title in 19 years.
Then, whilst City or Newcastle parade the trophy and the press dub us the ultimate chokers, we can all raise a glass and toast our untouched bank balance. 🙄
100 percent agree with you. Some people forget that it is all a liability till there is a really strong balance sheet. And maybe that’s why football dominance is cyclical.
Of course.
That’s what it’s all about. A healthy bank balance.
Not great players. Not great goals. Not great football. Not the Premiership title and qualifying for the Champions League. Or the global revenues that all of the above will generate.
It’s all about the bank balance…..🙄
Why do we need to remember that? We’re not economists. I don’t get why fans care so much. As long as there is no financial danger to the club We simply want a good football team.
Tell that to the Leeds fans who spent 10 years watching their team in the Championship…
Leeds didn’t have a global fan base, modern stadium or any assets to support the high wages.
You simply cannot compare Arsenal 2022 to Leeds
We are pretty known to be a financial self sustaining club. And we do have means of revenue income : ticketing, commercial, and more. So I’m sure we dun need Stanley to fork out for this one. Onto the stadium, I seriously haven’t seen anyone or any club that fully paid off their stadium cost at one go. And that is a reason why we are not making profits in the recent years since moving to the new stadium. In saying so, we still did not lose the ability to sign quality, young hunger players in our quest for CL.… Read more »
The decline in revenue was mainly because of losses from matchday (during Covid), Arsenal not playing in Europe, and player sales/contract terminations (which now is obvious, needed to happen regardless). We’re headed back to top tier football, the revenue will balance itself out pretty quickly. Especially if Mudryk fulfills his world class potential and we win a few big trophies along the way.
I don’t think this kid should cost a penny more than Gakpo. We should use his fee in our negotiations. On paper, Gakpo is the bigger asset.
If they won’t do us a deal for £50m all in, we walk away and let them sweat it out.
Yeah, Gakpo for 37m is a very good bit of business. He is quality. Liverpool recruit and negotiate very well.
This young man is better than Gakpo, trust me.
Different ceiling to him. Gakpo was anonymous at the Emirates. To be fair many have recently.
But Mudryk is the closest I’ve seen to Messi, in terms of how quickly he gets the ball going towards goal in minimal time, and high speed ball manipulation.
I thought PSV would negotiate harder, especially with Man United also interested.
Gakpo is a good player but look at the teams he scored against in the World Cup. After the group stage he was pretty anonymous. Looking good in the Eredivisie isn’t that impressive either. I might end up totally wrong but he could end up just being the new Ryan Babel.
Mudryk has looked good in the Champions League already. I find him more exciting than Gakpo.
I liked Xavi Simons more than Gakpo, when they played against us.
I like Gapko and wanted him at Arsenal, but this kid is a different gravy.
He will cost more, but with good reason….
But the cost to clubs also includes salary. I wouldn’t be surprised if Liverpool pay Gakpo double than what we’ve agreed with Mudryk.
Liverpool pay Nunez £140k a week and I suspect Gakpo will be on at least the same after World Cup exploits.
I reckon we get Mudryk for around £70k a week. He won’t be on 6-figure superstar wages from the start.
That could be around a £20m difference over a 5 year contract.
Top post, well said. 👍
You have no idea what “amortised” means do you?
Oh my days…. Has it honestly not occurred to you that Edu, Arteta and Josh will probably have taken Saliba’s contract (and Martinelli, Saka, et al) into consideration BEFORE discussing the budget for Mudryk – and whoever else we might be in for? Do you not think that they might just have discussed that in advance of the proposed budget for January? What do you think those talks with Josh were about? His favourite Christmas Malt? If we end up needing to cough up £80m+ for Mudryk, you can be sure that that will already be in addition to the… Read more »
This kid is class. will be a fantastic addition and if we pull it off and get a little help from the injury gods, we win the league. Believe
I’d rather our club is run by penny pinchers than sportswashers.
Is your surname Ardiles?
No Qwalitee, but my nickname came from the opposite (blue and white) half of my north London primary school playground around 1979, so it’s not entirely coincidence.
The would you consider…. £65m and 1…?
Oh don’t hate on me. I’ve eaten 17 Christmas cracker jokes this morning
“To Dare Is To Do (Rodders)…”
Spurs got their motto out of a Del Boy Christmas Cracker……
Feels expensive. Hope we are able to land him and he hits the ground running.
I think they will knock us back… we’ll stick on the 55m plus… and then they’ll finally accept it at the last minute.
Based on Arteta’s comments about acting early, I bet our offer is contingent upon getting the deal done by a certain date. Arsenal don’t have much negotiating room if in fact that was the offer, depending upon how much was guaranteed and how much was based on performance. I think we will move on from this player if Shaktar don’t find an agreement soon.
I agree with this. It is the most efficient way to go about it.
Definitely, for a kid who had one good season in Ukraine, especially comparing his price tag to the likes of Odegaard, Jesus, Martinelli
I bet you were one of those wincing about Ben White and Aaron Ramsdale as well.
Have some faith mate.
I would love to know the backroom thinking behind this potential move. I understand you can have more quality players in one position, but we seem to be well-stocked in LW already (Martinelli, ESR) IF both fit (huge if).
Would love to know what this transfer might mean for both. (Popular suggestion is that Martinelli moves to #9, but 1) both Arteta & Martinelli previously stated they see the future at LW + 2) Arteta seems to trust Eddie. Martinelli might be a temporary backup though).
I don’t question the move, simply curious.
No offence to Eddie, but he hasn’t shown enough to be “trusted” like that.
If you can improve, you improve – although dropping this kind of money on a winger seems unnecessary.
Wtf!? Does he need to do? 11 goals in 11 starts.
isn’t that what City’s striker is doing? 😛
Feel the sarcasm
Well, ESR is hardly a banker nowadays considering his injury record…
I suspect the thinking at Arsenal is that with the right coaching, he can be developed into an explosive all round goal scoring forward, who will be able
to play anywhere across the forward line.
Ding, ding, ding we have a winner. The big change in the team over the last three years is the improvement of the players who have been with Arteta for three years. Xhaka, Elneny, Saka, Martinelli, Eddie, MO, Big Gabby, and White. All these players have improved massively under Arteta’s system and coaching. It’s reasonable to assume the same would be true of Mudryck. It’s clear that if you are going to play on the front line of Arteta’s Arsenal, you have to be able to play all three front line positions. I bet we don’t go higher than £72m.… Read more »
I suspect Smith Rowe’s future lies centrally. He’ll play in the space that Xhaka currently occupies. They may well rotate with each other for a period with Xhaka 31 next season when we’re back in the CL, but all going well – talent progression and injury wise – that spot will eventually be ESR’s. Mudryk can seemingly operate on either wing and we’re desperately short of proper wingers. Saka and Martinelli can’t play every game. Nelson – although a good cameo against Forest – likely will never be the required standard for a run in a team who aspire to… Read more »
YOU TAKE THAT BACK ABOUT REISS-NELSON. I STILL BELIEVE!!!!
Well said! ESR vs. Xhaka: that’s interesting.
My idea is that Mudryk would be a left sided Odegaard. In an Iniesta kind a position, where he can play as a left winger but also comfortable playing as a left midfielder – behind Martinelli.
That’s very interesting and the overlaps could be deadly.
I am hoping Reiss-Nelson can have a similar renaissance to that of El Neny, maybe he can be that guy in the forward line that can come on and do a job for you, be reliable and steady and consistent if not spectacular, but there when you need him
We aren’t well stocked, if anything happened with Gabi Martinelli or Saka, with ESR out we’d be fucked. We need quality depth in this squad so we can rotate, as well as cover injuries. This guy can play left or right and if Edu and the club think this is the guy then we should trust them, the drop off from the first team to the squad players is too big at the moment.
Well said.
Minus ESR and Vieira, our current bench is hardly an ‘embarrassment of riches.’
I think a lot of people are still struggling to get used to the fact that we have taken things to the next level – Champions League places and Premiership title contenders – and our squad and bench have to reflect that.
The days of 11 first teamers plus Lucas Torreira are gone. Thank fuck.
Eddie has been used at LW too. Vieira has been used at RW.
Perhaps a completely fluid attacking frontline is what he wants.
All these players do well when drifting and finding space on the move when the one on the ball is attracting other players. Mudryk really gets doubled up upon, like Saka.
So perhaps the thinking is a hard working winger in Vieira on the right and the player who attracts attention on them left.
So when we come across teams who defend our right winger well but weaker on left wing we can choose this option
The way I see it is that we should have 2 players in each postition. Currently we are short in attacking midfield. Saka, ESR, Martinelli, Odegard, Viera are the 5 we have. So there is space for 1 addition.
For me adding a striker does not make sense as it means that Nketiah who has been offered a new contract moves to 3rd place. I think it would not be good squad management. If he does not do a good job over this season then this can be tackled in the summer.
Can we pay 100mil for Leao and be done with it. the true level raiser we need
🤣🤣 you be clueless guy.
Saka free, Gabi 7m & Smith free
This boy for €65 is fair play to current market trends.
Highly versatile can play both wings, as an interior and 10
Only €65? I’ll take two please!
His playing style reminds me of Bale. Strongly built and has an explosive pace. Kinda like a more physical Martinelli. Fullbacks are fucked for the foreseeable future!
I’m sure there is another reference you could have come up with.
Iniesta
I haven’t seen Mudryk enough to describe his style, but he can’t be like both Bale and Iniesta. (If he is, it’s the next 5 ballons d’or for him). By the way, I don’t care who Bale played for, I would be hapy to get a player that good–not him, a player that good. I would be happy to have a winger as good as Ryan Giggs–certainly not a human being like Giggs, but a winger with his quality.
I’d be choosing Overmars or Pires for comparison before Giggs.
And I’d be choosing Eddie McGoldrick before Giggs!
More of McGuire, Walcott type if you ask me
Hope, he won’t slip on a banana skin!
From the fella who told you all (when he was still just a loanee) that Ode would be our next true Captain and future legend…
There is ZERO chance the Mudders is getting on that plane to Turkey… only flight he’s taking is to Heathrow!
Please let this be the last time anyone calls him Mudders.
Exactly, there’s no need to Muddy the waters.
Muddy Waters gets me sing the blues. Coat! 😀
What? And deny him the honour of a nickname to rival Jeezzee, Marto, Rowey, Saks, Odes, Tiers, and Rammers?
Rammers is pretty funny. I’m using it from now on. Shall not be footnoting this either.
It’s not so much “Mudders” as “the” in front of it that feels wrong.
I’d rather a top class centre midfielder personally, but it does seem the in thing to stock up on wide players like Liverpool, City and Chelsea.
Liverpool have just signed Gakpo for £37m with £13m worth of add-ons. I don’t think we should be offering too much more for Mudryk.
Liverpool always seem to get numbers that reflect well on them but I wonder how much of that is their messaging being successful
Raw player but he will be very different from the other players we have. His key attributes are so good. If Mikel wants him, then he must have a plan for the system he can build around him.
For sure Mudryk knows how to draw players towards him and some of his off ball runs create space for others.
Maybe they see him as the new Andryi Shevchenko… the price seems to be staggering for just a talented ⚽ kid – player… 🤔
Looks like he has the ability to play across the front line. I agree the price looks high, but at this point you have to trust that Arteta has a plan to integrate such an expensive signing. It could mean a slight formation shift to get more attacking players on the pitch.
I don’t see how we can possibly get more attacking players on the pitch. We already have our established front 3 (Martinelli + Saka + Jesus/Eddie). Then in midfield we have Odegaard playing the creative role on the right and Xhaka in his new advanced position. That leaves only Partey in front of the defense to keep control over possession and deal with whatever dirty work is needed. Unless you’re talking about replacing Xhaka with an even more attacking player, which would be a big tactical gamble, I don’t think it can work.
You’d be right, in a world where no player ever gets injured and there are never enough fixtures to force squad rotation.
Meanwhile, in the real world…
That’s exactly what I’m talking about, my friend 😉
Maybe Emil fitness situation more unpredictable than we know
This guy is worth it. Speed, physicality, dribbling of another level. Deadly on the counter, but also trickery and skill to make space in tight areas with an eye for a pass. Arteta must think he has the mentality to cope with pressure – he’s done really well in his debut Champions league season as well. How many other players of this profile have we seen? Let’s wrap this up Arteta.
All sorts of “bids” mentioned in the media – £45m, £55m etc. While it’s unlikely that he’ll sell (if he does) for the reported figure his club wants which seems to be around £85m, nevertheless he’ll be expensive if Arsenal do get him as it’s a really a sellers market. Despite the great performance yesterday, I think we do need to strengthen the squad in this window. How this is done depends, ultimately, upon how much (more) money will be available from the owner as we’re certainly not making it in profits.
Owners would like to make profits but they are more interested in the asset value. That’s how they get paid ultimately and is where the big money is when they sell. Hard not to make a profit when you win the league. I for one applaud the AMBITION.
These kids are not only capable of winning this year’s title, they could seriously go on next season to win the Champions League.
These youngsters are special; they have no ceiling.
Mudryk perfectly fits the profile of Arteta/Edu’s recent signings and is an exciting talent. He would fit perfectly in the group.
Hopefully this will also push our star wide men to sign their contract extensions.
What about Zaha?
Fuck that sulky shit.
What is the matter with the guy?
He’s a diva, a play actor, a me-first merchant and highly overrated.
If he was truly as good as the media keep making him out to be, he wouldn’t be mincing up and down the wing going for an Oscar in a Palace shirt. He’d already be at a top club. But he isn’t.
Overrated and a non team player. Let Spurs or someone fork out a fortune for him. He’s bang average.
Other than he spends half the game on the ground begging for calls he won’t get and doesn’t play a lick of defense, he’s great (sarcasm alert).
Excellent player but we only sign 21 year olds.
Pool got Gakpo for just £37m. This kid is twice as good as Gakpo?
And the rest.
And I wanted us to sign Gapko. But I’ll take this kid over Gapko any day.
Go online and check him out. He is an Arteta player. That’ll do me. 😉
His highlight reels are amazing. We all know that’s scientific proof he will be good here. He does have blinding pace, his acceleration is off the charts.
Gakpo isn’t fit to file his little toenail.
Hi guys, compliments of d season to u gunners family..on a separate note I will like to ask which can can one stream live matches as hesgoal is no longer available…
Nice to see this fella in the group if the money’s reasonable his reels look fantastic. On a side note Santa brought me the David Dein book for Christmas and it’s a very good read 👍🏻
Yep, totally agree. David Dein’s book is a great read.
Had the pleasure of meeting him and his incredibly attractive American wife in the Wembley car park after our 1993 FA Cup Final Replay triumph.
At the time, Spurs were experiencing board room chaos and, amongst other jubilant songs, the joyous Gooners were singing “ A spoonful of Sugar helps the Venables go down, in the most delightful way” – which had Mr Dein and his good lady wife in hysterics.
Great memories.
Did you see the ambulance taking Stephen Morrow away???
Just get the right players and lets win the league! Money.. well once we win the league, we will be getting better valuation for all of our players, so its all good. Make this happen! We have the momentum, lets get the right personnel and give it a real go! Honestly, 35m vs 50m.. the difference mean nothing when we win the league. We gotta act like a big club, cuz we are one!
Leeds United was there…
That’s a rubbish argument.
Leeds Utd were run by a bunch of muppets who didn’t have a clue what they were doing.
At least give Edu, Arteta and Josh some kudos. 🙄
Exactly. Well said. 👍🍺
People mentioning the Gakpo fee as a reference for this fee. It’s not related. We got Odegaard for £35m. Sometimes you get great deals, most of the time you have to pay the asking price
I’m just glad Pini Zahavi etc is nowhere near this deal. That’s the first thing that tells me that he is actually a good player