Arsenal's hope of bringing in reinforcements during the January transfer window appears to have been boosted.
Unsurprisingly given the Gunners' position in the Premier League table, there has been talk of Mikel Arteta looking to take advantage by signing a central midfielder amid links to Palmeiras' Danilo - who was a target in the summer - and a winger to provide competition for Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli.
One name that continues to be linked with a move to Arsenal is Shakhtar Donetsk's Mykhaylo Mudryk and football.london understands that interest in the Ukraine international has existed for some time and the youngster isn't exactly playing down the prospect of a switch.
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However, it seemed like prizing the 21-year-old away from Shakhtar would prove to be almost impossible following recent comments from the player himself suggesting that a dream move has been 'wounded' due to his club slapping a €100m (£87.6m) price tag on his head.
"I am 100 per cent sure that they are unlikely to buy a player from the championship of Ukraine for 100 million," Mudryk admitted. "Serhii Anatoliyovych says that the time will come. Maybe so. But I have my opinion that for such an amount, this time will not come soon, and maybe never. After reading the interview of the director, I will not hide that I was very upset. The amount of €100m puts a barrier for my transition to the top championship, which I so dreamed of. I can’t say that my dream was killed, but wounded, that’s for sure."
Although in a potential boost for Mudryk, it was reported by our friends at the Mirror over the weekend that Shakhtar have privately reduced their asking price significantly and are now willing to accept a deal closer to £40m.
Of course, this doesn't guarantee Mudryk will leave Shakhtar in January. But if this turns out to be the case and he does complete a £40m transfer to the Gunners then supporters will be looking forward to seeing the Ukraine international holding the Arsenal shirt at his unveiling - but what squad number could the forward take at the Emirates Stadium?
Well, it would appear that he has one favoured option as he currently wears the no.10 shirt for Shakhtar and did so for his national team in their UEFA Nations League double-header against Scotland in September.
At Arsenal, the incumbent no. 10 is Emile Smith Rowe and Premier League rules state 'while he remains with the Club a Player will retain his shirt number throughout the Season for which it was allocated'. This means Mudryk would have to choose another shirt number if he was to join the north London outfit in January.
With that said, the winger has worn other numbers on the back of his shirt during his rise up the ranks at Shakhtar and during a couple of loan spells. At Arsenal Kyiv he had the rather unique choice of no.91 and he used no.14 during his brief time with Desna in the 2020/21 season.
But since returning to his parent club, Mudryk has worn no.91, no.20 and no.10. Of those, the no.20 is currently vacant at Arsenal following Nuno Tavares' loan move to Marseille in the summer. The same applies to no.91, but that has never been worn by a first-team player at the club.
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