Mykhaylo Mudryk asked Arsenal question before joining Chelsea, says journo

Mykhaylo Mudryk asked Arsenal question before accepting Chelsea offer

Mykhaylo Mudryk has agreed to join Chelsea but was still preferring Arsenal and asked the club if they could equal Chelsea’s offer.

Mudryk was reluctant to choose the Gunners over Chelsea, according to Ben Jacobs on CBS Sports (h/t Express.UK), and he inquired whether Arsenal could meet the Blues’ £88 million offer before agreeing to join the West Londoners.

Arsenal were in the running to sign the youngster from Shakhtar Donetsk and the Ukrainian club sought somewhere about £88 million for the player, but the north London giants were hesitant to match that demand and had their third bid for Mudryk rejected.

But the Gunners soon made a new offer of £75–80 million, sparking positive conversation and signalling that a deal was getting closer.

However, on Saturday, the Chelsea board were in Poland to push the Mudryk deal and seemed to have hijacked Arsenal’s pursuit of the player. They were successful with a mammoth £88 million (€100 million) offer for the 22-year-old winger.

Additionally, Arsenal did not want to raise their offer to match Chelsea’s since they were not in a position to engage in a bidding war.

With 10 goals and 8 assists in 18 appearances in all competitions for Shakhtar this season, he has shown that he can make a telling impact in the final third. Only time will tell if he can continue to develop at the same rate and produce similar numbers in the Premier League.

And on Sunday, the player will travel to Stamford Bridge to finish his medical. This is yet another good acquisition for the team, and Mudryk will attempt to address the problems that have plagued the Blues in recent games, especially up front.

Given the injury to Christian Pulisic and the reduced playing time for Hakim Ziyech, the player may not have a lot of competition for immediate playing time.

The youngster will surely feel pressure to perform to that level especially given our form in the league. But hopefully, his potential new teammates will make things easy for him. The fans will also expect a lot from him but it is wise to remember that this will be his first season in a new league and that he is still in his formative years.

More Chelsea News:

• Chelsea will make a decision on the future of David Datro Fofana in the second half of January
• Pep Guardiola urges Chelsea owner Todd Boehly to give Graham Potter time
• Chelsea target Wilfried Zaha could only leave Crystal Palace in the summer

And hopefully, this signing will bring optimism among the fans and the club’s subsequent matches. Hopefully, the official announcement is made soon and the player forgets about Arsenal soon. We need players here who are fully committed to the Chelsea cause in the long term.

A strong indication of such a commitment from the player’s side is that he has apparently agreed to a long-term contract until the summer of 2030.