Mykhailo Mudryk has spoken out for the first time since his stunning £89m transfer to Chelsea, describing the Blues under new owner Todd Boehly as “a very attractive project”.
Mudryk, 22, has signed an eight-and-a-half year contract at Stamford Bridge and becomes Chelsea’s fifth January signing following striker David Datro Fofana, centre-back Benoit Badiashile, Brazilian attacking midfielder Andrey Santos and the on-loan Joao Felix to west London.
Arsenal had been pushing to sign Mudryk and were confident of getting a deal done until recently, when Chelsea upped the ante to offer Shakhtar Donetsk a bigger fee than the Gunners - and doubled the wages on offer to Mudryk himself.
The Independent has been told that Mudryk will be paid over £100,000 a week, with Arsenal having initially gone up to £50,000 a week.
“I’m so happy to sign for Chelsea,’ Mudryk said after signing. “This is a huge club, in a fantastic league and it is a very attractive project for me at this stage of my career. I’m excited to meet my new team-mates and I’m looking forward to working and learning under Graham Potter and his staff.”
Boehly, the Chelsea chairman, and Behdad Eghbali, the club’s co-controlling owner, said: “We are delighted to welcome Mykhailo to Chelsea. He’s a hugely exciting talent who we believe will be a terrific addition to our squad both now and in the years to come.
“He will add further depth to our attack and we know he’ll get a very warm welcome to London.”
Chelsea will pay an initial fee of €70m (£62m) to Shakhtar, with a further €30m dependent on team performance.
Boehly has been extremely active in the transfer market since he and the Clearlake consortium took over the club, with the likes of Denis Zakaria, Wesley Fofana, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Carney Chukwuemeka all brought in over the summer too under Thomas Tuchel before the German boss was sacked and replaced by Graham Potter.
Potter, however, has struggled to implement his preferred style at the club and still earn positive results along the way, resulting in unrest from some areas of the supporter base and a renewed push from the hierarchy to bring in fresh players to suit the new boss.
Mudryk becomes the latest of those and pushes Chelsea’s total outlay for the January window to over £150m, once all payments and add-ons are included.
