Ian Wright and Jose Mourinho have both admitted how difficult it has become to financially compete with Chelsea following the signing of Mykhailo Mudryk. The 22-year-old was heavily linked with a move to Arsenal but, once Todd Boehly heard of the Gunners' interest, the Blues swooped in and hijacked the deal.
Talks between the north Londoners and Shakhtar Donetsk were thought to have been progressing well, with Edu submitting an initial bid in the region of £55million last month, football.london understands. Arsenal remained in close contact with the Ukrainian side and, as of Friday, there was confidence that Mudryk would put pen to paper on a deal.
But then, on Saturday, Chelsea submitted a bid of their own which was thought to be €70million (£62m), including €30million (£26m) of incentivised add-ons. And, the rest was history — less than 24 hours later Mudryk was unveiled to the home support at Stamford Bridge.
