Friday, March 29, 2024

Shakhtar confirm Arsenal contact, Mudryk negotiations continue

Serhii Palkin, CEO of Shakhtar Donetsk, has confirmed that negotiations with Arsenal over the sale of Mykhailo Mudryk are continuing.

It was reported on Boxing Day that the Ukrainians had rejected the Gunners opening offer of €40 million plus €20 million in add-ons for the winger.

While it’s unclear when the new quotes were actually made – it’s plausible they were recorded a few days ago and relate to the aforementioned offer – they at least underline that Arsenal’s interest in the winger, which has been widely reported, is concrete and that his club are willing to sell.

“Negotiations [for Mudryk] are continuing,” Palkin told the Shakhtar website.

“We receive offers, but they are not the ones we would like to see on our table.

“Now, literally in five minutes, I will have a phone conversation with Arsenal. We are open to negotiations, ready to exchange ideas and figures. If we will agree, then let it be so. If we will not, then let it be another time.”

Shakhtar have already suggested they are willing to be stubborn in negotiations for Mudryk and have previously stated the winger’s price tag is around the €100 million mark.

As was the case in the summer when we chased Raphinha and Ruben Neves, Arsenal will be working to a budget and will have a preferred deal structure in mind.

If it starts to get difficult we may well look elsewhere…so hold off having a Mudryk shirt printed at the club shop.

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goongot

Honestly 65m feels a lot for this guy. Hopefully we walk away if they are asking above 70m. Gakpo deal + 10m is what his range should have being but shaktar clearly wanna loot us.

Brady’s bunch

I’m inclined to agree with you, we’re still paying off the Pepe deal and look how that worked out.

Doctor Perceptron

If the bulk of the add ons are performance based that should go some way to avoiding a repeat of the Pepe situation. Base price seems right for a kid who has only played in Ukraine. Bump up the add ons and get it done!

mjc1892

Surprised by the hesitancy. If Arteta thinks he’s worth it, far be it from me to disagree. If he’s going to materially improve our chances of sustaining the title push, I couldn’t give a toss if we overpay by £10m. Ride that positivity wave!

Anteneh

Like it’s your money lol, but i understand. It’s not even about how much a player is worth these days. It’s about who is desperate enough to fork out the most. Look at United and how many useless players they have over payed for.

BillyKrystal

Anthony’s deal is screwing us. United are run by clowns. Imagine if chelshit spend absurd money on Enzo Fernández. It will skew the market for another few windows

Daveo

This is what I feel. Football is a broken game. The money of the mega-rich have stolen football away from the fans. Arsenal are ABSOLUTELY a part of this. If you want to argue the shades of grey of how “good” or “bad” our billions are be my guest (but undoubtedly Stan kroenke is an absolute piece of shite of the highest order!). I’ve given up on morals and standards in football – I just want to watch my team play footy. Fuck these mega rich arsehats, their ivory back scratchers and their unsatiable greed that is crippling the world… Read more »

Eric Blair

Amen Davo

Absolutely agree. Anything more than that and we should walk. For 100 mill, theycan sell him to Chelsea where he can join their other recent signings in being shit.

Heavenly Chapecoense

Gakpo – 10 M, I would say.

Lordpato

If we’re comparing players, versus gapko, I think he is superior. So 60-65k should be enough for him, but anything above that, erm, eye brows should be raised. How much did haaland cost man City FFS😏

Santi’s Thigh Grab

£130m

Sdani

I think the haaland deal is different. There was a fixed fee and monster wages involved. Only a couple of clubs were in the race.

Bill

Not to mention the 40 MM to his agent and 30 MM to his father. The headline 60 MM transfer number was such a farce.

Savage

Apparently the total deal was 240m

A Different George

And the release clause was so low because Haaland had it arranged it that way when he joined them, as part of a carefully thought-through career plan. It meant many clubs could afford the fee (though not necessarily the wages), and it would be entirely his decision, with Dortmund realistically having no imput at all about where he would go. I think he and his family had decided on Pep and Man City as the destination a long time ago.

Teryima Adi

Haaland and his well oiled machine.

Goonshow

That’s how it works out when you have a Dad who knows the ropes!

BsinGooner

If only we would have made the first offer right after the Gakpo deal. An initial offer same as Gakpo’s would still have probably been rejected, but after that, our current offer of 40+20 as the final offer would have been accepted.

Pepe The Frog

Is it only me who feels a little underwhelmed by Gakpo? Sure, he’s talented and I believe if coached correctly he could be a great no. 9 because of his pace, movement and finishing. But as a winger, I feel he leaves much to be desired. More of a player who’ll shine in bursts rather than control the entire match.

Eddie's Turn

Nice idea that, but these negotiations are hardly as cut and dry as that. I’d imagine series of discussions before and in-between the deals.

Eric Blair

We bow down before you BsinGooner, Lord of the negotiating table. I can only suggest getting in contact with Edu to offer your clearly talented services!

Johnny 4 Hats

Shakhtar are basically shouting “JUST TO LET EVERYONE KNOW, ARSENAL WANT MUDRYK! IF ANYONE ELSE IS INTERESTED, PLEASE LET US KNOW!” They know they can only force through a gargantuan sale if another party or two are bidding. I’m starting to get cold feet about this one. The guy was going to Brentford for £25m in the summer and now we are expected to pay over double? I think we need to have a contingency plan here as I’d be getting close to walking away on this one. They are going to try and bend us over a barrel here… Read more »

Santi’s Thigh Grab

If Mudryk will only sign for Arsenal then Shaktar will get nothing. If we get him, it won’t be quick.

Keighley Gooner

I don’t think the Brentford fee was agreed by SD so I don’t think £25m was a done deal. Like you say there must be other players out there if we miss this guy – and I would be reluctant to overpay – then again we don’t want an inactive window like last January !!! Who would want Edu’s job?

Man Manny

I know this wouldn’t end up like the Pepe deal, but I am inclined to agree with you. For a guy for whom £25m was good enough about 5 months ago, is 10 goals and 8 assists in Ukrainian league and CL group stage football enough to triple his value?
I have my doubts. A reasonable fee based more on the future than the present would be ideal for me.

A Different George

Well, not exactly. It’s still up to the player if he doesn’t want to move somewhere, and no manager really wants to keep a player who wants to leave. (Okay, Harry Kane excepted.) Which means all those clearly expressed preferences for Arsenal do put extra pressure on Shakhtar–accept a good Arsenal offer, or risk being stuck with a disgruntled and possibly disruptive player.

Teryima Adi

Exactly my sentiments. But I trust our negotiating team to beat Donetsk at this poker game no other club, apart from Arsenal, seems to be interested in.

Qwaliteee

Chelsea have been reported to show an interest, which wouldn’t surprise me in the least.

I’m only surprised the Spuds haven’t tried their luck yet – they usually try to usurp every deal we do – the sad cretins.

Daveo

Next step is to start tapping him up, get in his ear and suggest that maybe he could demand a trade. He’s already suggested they are blocking his dream move. As mentioned it’s a dirty broken game, so embrace the dark arts.

Goonshow

A dose of reality urgently needed here: bloke has decent scoring record but not in the PL (or any remotely comparable league) he was valued at 25m only 5 months ago our pressing (sic) need is for a central striker and NOT a wide player (we have two of the PL’s best in Gabi and Saka) he wants to come to Arsenal – that’s exactly the right kind of pressure on the selling club; So just be patient… decide what his maximum value is to us (given all of the above)… and hold out. Shaktar will come to the table,… Read more »

Tom 007

We don’t want another pepe fiasco in our club. He is still a raw talent some workload has to be done for him to be world class. Necessity shouldn’t better our judgement..

Johnny 4 Hats

Totally agree.

The strong move (given we will be dealing with lots of cash poor clubs who want us to overpay) is to tell them to swivel.

Then when we are negotiating with FC MidTableSwissObscurity they won’t take us for a ride.

Let’s not forget this is a club that got £60m out of United for Fred. They know just how to swindle a big, rich club.

Eric Blair

Not hard with Man Utd though.

Pepe The Frog

While I agree that we shouldn’t go above 65 million for the lad, I’m baffled by how many on here are complaining about the club spending “too much money” and a supposed financial crisis that can be brought upon by spending on players like Mudryk. A few years ago, we were screaming, “Splash the cash.” If we win the league, the extra 15-20 would mean diddly-squat to the club. As for Mudryk himself, you can see he’s got all the attributes to be a top class player and there’s no reason why he can’t hit the ground running after his… Read more »

Sdani

Agree. Just to get us in the CL top three spot would gain lots of income.

Chijioke

I disagree with you.
We wanted Ars to spend the cash but after seeing how other teams have faired because they just want to spend the cash has taught us lessons. I would have said same thing about his vision in Pepe’s deal too. I think someone in shaktar want to take advantage of this deal and I think we should not give in. I only pity the lad.

Pepe The Frog

We shouldn’t be judging our targets based on the transfer fee just because the likes of manu and chelsea made woefully expensive blunders in the market. What many people are conveniently ignoring is that even the first bid was €40 million upfront and the rest were add-ons. Even if up our bid to €50 million upfront, it’s still a fair price for a monstrous talent. If the add-ons are performance and trophy-related then it’s a win-win in any situation. If we win the league and Mudryk scores goals, we pay more but we’re getting returns. If he fails, the add-ons… Read more »

kaius

All these negative mentions of Pepe are kind of tedious, as if the player who helped Mikel Arteta win his first major trophy was a total failure.

Pepe never established himself in the first team because of his own flaws and the emergence of Bukayo Saka, but any player who arrives with a high transfer fee pays off a big chunk of that fee when they help the club win a major trophy.

People on here talking about “we don’t want another Pepe fiasco”. If Mudryk does 50% of what Pepe did, he will have a fine first season.

Pat Fried Rice with Egg

“but any player who arrives with a high transfer fee pays off a big chunk of that fee when they help the club win a major trophy.”

How? FA Cup winners pocket approx. £5mil in total prize money.

kaius

I don’t mean to be rude but this is the major problem with how you fan accountants see the game – it’s not just about prize money. You cannot put a value on the prestige the club got from beating Chelsea and Man City on the way to winning that FA Cup Final. It validated Arteta, and he was given time and space to implement his changes to the squad. Now we’re in the middle of title race and KSE are sanctioning 70m+ bids for future superstars and you’re talking about £5mil in prize money?? Nicolas Pepe did not bankrupt… Read more »

Goonshow

Disingenuous mate – the 5 mil was just a drop relative to what that FA Cup win meant for a club in crisis, a rookie manager with daggers aiming at his back and a chunk of the fan-base (‘fan’ used in it’s broadest sense, mind!) turning toxic in the stands.

It’s arguable that, had Mik not landed that trophy, he may not still have been here… and that is where the value lies, just have a quick butcher’s at the league table!

Qwaliteee

The FA Cup….?!

*Cough

We’re five points clear in the Premiership, in case you hadn’t noticed…..

Guns Up

Aside from the trophy, he was third on the team for goal contributions in his first season and led the team in his second season. He wasn’t right for Arteta and was marginalized thereafter, and his transfer fee was obviously too high, but using him as some benchmark for a complete bust is misguided.

Bob

I think the general hesitation is the numbers SD want seem mad, and yes it would be great to get him, but there are other players.

For CL next season and beyond we need a Partey backup/ successor, LCB backup, Xhaka backup, probably another fwd. So any overspend on Mudryk is to the detriment of those.

loose_cannon

I think the issue is less about spending the money, but more about how we spend it. Mudryk has a lot of potential, but currently it’s just that. If we’re going to spend £100m, we might as well get bonafide superstar instead.

Pepe The Frog

My issue is precisely with the £100 million figure being quoted by fans. Our first bid wasn’t even 60 million (plus it was €, not £). It was 40+20 add-ons. And there’s no indication that we’re going to bid 100 million just because our first bid got rejected. The first bid was a feeler. There’s a very good chance we up our bid by a few million but increase the base amount and reduce the add-ons. I trust Edu and Arteta to walk away from the deal when the asking price becomes ludicrous. But 60-65 million for a young player… Read more »

Qwaliteee

Exactly. I would stop at 80m tops, but I would be prepared to pay that than see him go elsewhere and explode, only for us to be wondering what might have been if only we’d forked out that little bit extra. Those days should be well and truly behind us now, especially given we’re currently in the best position we’ve been in to secure a Premiership title in the last 19 years. City will spend big in the summer, Newcastle haven’t even started yet and if United secure a big takeover they will be in the mix too. Now is… Read more »

Arsemouth

The positive for us is that Mudryk wants us. So even if a Newcastle throws money, we may have an advantage in securing the deal. But, the way Gakpo happened, a bit apprehensive about being ‘gazumped’.

A Different George

I don’t think we should underestimate Zinchenko’s presence as a factor. Like if you were Swiss and Granit Xhaka told you this was a great club for you, or Norwegian and Odegaard told you to come to Arsenal (yeah, I know).

Teryima Adi

Or if you were Dutch and Virgil asked you to come to Liverpool a la Gakpo deal.😀

Goonshow

You can add Bruno Guimaraes to that list… how useful would it be to have him going into this 2nd phase of the season?

Anteneh

I like how he said “If we will agree, then let it be so. If we will not, then let it be another time.”

ArseneLovesSoniaTatar

Me too. Means he knows Mudryk has chosen Arsenal as the trading partner. Price may need to be worked out, but unlikely he will go to another club

Mikels Arteta

Nothing over £55m upfront
Mudryk wants the move. Let’s use that in our favour for once

Snc

Shakthar is taking a piss.. its Ukrainian league ffs. Arsenal offer was reasonable as compared to what clubs were offering in the summer.

loose_cannon

Ornstein is saying we’re also exploring a loan deal for João Felix. Not sure if that would be an either/or situation, but getting both would be an unreal January.

A Different George

I was never that impressed with Felix when I saw him at Atletico (which means in Champions League matches) or for Portugal–you could see the talent, but he really didn’t make a big difference in the game. Of course, he was quite young too. But at this World Cup, he was just spectacular, a great false 9/10 (in the sense of central attacker who dropped back to control play–like Firmino at Liverpool). It was his game, every time he was out there. In our scheme, he would be incredibly high-level cover for the role that either Jesus or Odegaard play… Read more »

Goonshow

Agreed – and Martin is a great precedent as to what a smart loan-to-buy deal can bring us. I’d pay the 8m but insist on a very realistic option-to-buy price as part of that negotiation. Atleti want his overhead off their books so may well snatch the 8 bars and agree to a lower ‘if/but/maybe’ final selling price on the never-never…

Certainly worth a shot (sic!).

Teryima Adi

Getting Felix would be a real coup.

Leemillion

We’ve only learned to spend well recently so, when we see figures like this, it’s understandable why some fans are apprehensive. Especially when we could use a midfielder and/or striker in this window too (maybe too ambitious).

Hopefully we’re smart with addons and keep the upfront fee reasonable. He’s kinda held against his wishes at the moment, based on all the social media posts. I would imagine that works well for us.

Naked Cygan

Just because a player is valuable at 70-100 million doesn’t guarantee he is good or will gel with the system. There are great talents around the world with the fraction of the price. We definitely need another player but breaking the bank is stupid. A short term loan option might be a better way to go for a player that meets our requirements.

Der32

It’s just posturing on both sides. Arsenal flirting with Felix and Shakhtar holding firm for a bigger payout. Mudryk is their most prized asset at the moment so they will want to maximise his value. It’s just about aggreeing on the payment terms. Mudryk really wants this move so I suspect this will force the move through eventually.

Onenil

The Felix thing should be for real. We cannot risk gambling the league on Eddie as our sole striker.
With Mudryk, trust Arteta and Edu’s eye for talent that fits our system, not the league he’s in now. They’ve been right on ALL our recent signings.

Goonshow

Works both ways – if Mudders has an average rest of season, his value will quickly plummet back to Brentford’s 25m. And don’t underestimate the precedent that Arsenal’s refusal to pay over 60m will set in the market – that will most certainly have an effect on ‘stabilising’ his supposed value.

John HanCock

At this point in time we’re in a market of one. The only other team who have a need for Mudryk, and the funds for what’s been quoted us are the Magpies. Shakhtar may be overplaying their hand a little; I think we’re in a position to play hardball as well. I may very well be wrong, but I don’t think Shakhtar are in a position to watch a guaranteed 45m GBP just slide off the table in this window.

Teryima Adi

I wonder why there’s no bidding war for Mudryk? I think we should stick to our initial bid for a while and see what happens next.( Poker face😀)

Fatgooner

The club should play hardball.

It’s obvious that Mudryk is desperate to sign for us so we should hold out for as long as possible. Asking for €100 million for an inexperienced 21-year-old is taking the p***. Realistically he’s probably worth about half that figure.

We don’t have to sign him in this window: the urgent requirement is for a striker. And I don’t see other big clubs fighting for his signature.

My guess is that Shaktar will fold and take a low offer because they’re desperate for the money.

Pigaroulettes

Before we freak out about the price, let’s remember that no one here (myself included) thought paying this much for Ramsdale and Ben White was a good idea.

Let’s trust the club on this one.

But I have to admi, for this kind of money you can get a player like Milinkovic-Savic and I think he could reach Ballon d’Or level if he played for us in the Xhaka role.

Vonnie

Mudryk is by all accounts the real deal, and if Edu and Mikel think he’s what we need then I trust their judgement completely. You make an excellent point about the Ramsdale and White deals, remember all the fuss those caused 😂😂

I personally don’t think bringing a Serb into the club would do anything for team harmony, and I’d be surprised if the club had any interest in Milinkovic-Savic.

Arsepedant

Shakhtar still want £80M for Mudryk, but the Shakhtar club is currently valued at just over £100M. Maybe we should just buy the entire club? We could keep Mudryk and sell all the other players, and I bet we’d get back at least £50M.

John

ROFL 🙂
how on earth did Liverpool manage to get Gakpo for that sum? Looks excellent value.

Fatgooner

It’s called haggling

Eddie's Turn

Just want to confirm if I’m allowed to comment on Arseblog again. All my comments says “awaiting approval” and disappears later.
Ffs, I’ve been 18+ for many years!!!

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