Ian Wright has claimed that Mykhailo Mudryk snubbed Arsenal in favour of Chelsea 'for the money'. The 22-year-old winger was heavily linked with a move to the Gunners at the start of month, only for the Blues to swoop in and hijack the deal.
Talks between the north Londoners and Shakhtar Donetsk were thought to have been progressing well before Edu tabled a bid of €70million (£62million), including €30million (£26million) worth of add-ons. Arsenal remained in contact with the Ukrainian side and, at one stage, there was confidence that they were going to welcome Mudryk to the Emirates Stadium.
But, then, Chelsea swooped in and matched Arsenal's bid which was revealed to be a better structured offer. And, the rest was history — just hours later Mudryk was unveiled to Blues fans and paraded around Stamford Bridge.
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Speaking on the Arsecast podcast, Wright revealed that he was 'very excited' at the prospect of the Gunners signing the Ukraine international. The former Arsenal striker said: "With Mudryk I was very excited about that.
"With the money it started to get into the realm where it could knock us off our axis in terms of what we’re trying to do. He looks like the kind of guy that would fit into our group.
"I was a bit disappointed but not disappointed that Arsenal went ‘that’s fine’. He’s gone there for money, I’m not going to blame him because he’s someone who has had a lot more going on around him personally and in his life.
"We cannot talk about how much money he wants to take for whatever reason. I’m not even going there if I’m being totally honest. I was just disappointed we weren’t able to get him because of how good he is."
According to The Athletic, Chelsea are paying Mudryk £97,000 per week, which is around £10,000 a week more than Arsenal were offering.
The report adds that it is still less than both Callum Hudson-Odoi (£120,000 per week), who is on-loan with Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek (£150,000 per week) are earning.
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