Chelsea look set to complete their fifth January signing after hijacking Arsenal's move for Mykhaylo Mudryk, despite the Gunners submitting a third bid and being the closest they had ever been to agreeing a deal, as football.london understands.
Todd Boehly and co. were pushing for a transfer hijack of Mudryk earlier in the window after meeting Dario Srna at Stamford Bridge last Thursday to discuss a deal for Mudryk, but in the days following, talk surrounding Mudryk from a Chelsea perspective went quiet - until now.
Paul Winstanley and other senior Chelsea figures are understood to have travelled to Turkiye to secure the deal after Arsenal technical director Edu headed to Poland as the race to sign Mudryk heated up. Now it appears the battle has been won by the Blues, who have now reached an agreement with Shakhtar, offering £62million up front with £26.5million available in add-ons, as revealed by Fabrizio Romano.
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Personal terms are still to be decided with Mudryk, who seemed to have his heart set on north London, but developments have taken a rapid turn. The Athletic are now reporting he is keen on joining the blue side of London with a seven-year contract agreed and a medical planned to take place soon in London, with Mudryk already on his way to the capital.
After being crowned Shakhtar's player of the year for the second season running, Mudryk has made a major U-turn on his future after dropping a transfer hint that could have potentially foreshadowed a move away and not specifically to Arsenal.
In the interview with the club Mudryk said: “Good progress, but you can always be better. Therefore, you should not stop, but go towards new goals, look for new challenges.”
Many of the Instagram hints from Mudryk were aimed at a move to Arsenal, but his latest claim matches up with what his agent revealed towards the end of 2022.
"He is a young and very ambitious guy," Oleksiy Alyokhin, the agent of Mudryk, told sportarena. "It can be seen with the naked eye that he outgrew the championship of Ukraine a long time ago and is ready to perform at a more serious level. He needs to progress."
Alyokhin went on to admit there were offers for the services of Mudryk over the summer but declined to reveal who they were from. However, he did go on to admit that now would be the best time for a move away from Shakhtar.
He added: "Of course, he dreams of moving to a big club. With his performance in the Champions League, he proved that he is ready to play at the highest level. And in my opinion, now is the best time for it. I think everyone will benefit from this. And Shakhtar, and the national team of Ukraine, and the player himself."
That ambition to move to a huge club and the need to secure a departure from the Ukrainian league could have played a key part in the 22-year-old snubbing north for west London. Arsenal's delay in finalising a deal looks to have cost them dearly and, after being given a way out of the club with Chelsea's latest offer, Mudryk appears to have taken it.
His post on Instagram of a praying emoji after news broke of Arsenal's third bid may have been his final plea to the club chasing his signature to ensure the deal is completed soon.
But the Blues arriving out of nowhere to blow Arsenal's bid out of the water may have convinced Mudryk he may be more valued at Chelsea.
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