Mykhaylo Mudryk has posted a photo of himself appearing to wear an Arsenal shirt on his Instagram Stories.
The Ukrainian winger, 22, has long been the Gunners' top target for the January transfer window and a move looks to be edging closer, despite Shakhtar Donetsk knocking back two lucrative bids. Mudryk has previously dropped a series of hints over his desire to join Mikel Arteta 's side, including an Instagram post which labelled the Arsenal manager a 'top coach'.
Now the Shakhtar wonderkid, who's club are demanding a reported £85million to part ways with their star asset, has taken to Instagram once more to drop the clearest hint yet at his potential transfer. On Thursday, Mudryk uploaded a photo of his cat with a caption that read "my biggest cheerleader."
In the background, however, the 22-year-old's television was displaying a mock-up image of him wearing Arsenal's current home shirt and holding a sign which displayed his name. Celebrity fan Piers Morgan was even buoyed by the post, as he joined excitable supporters by tweeting: "Whoa," and adding three fire emojis in response to the Instagram story.
"He's coming for sure," added one Arsenal fan. Another said: "Don’t think I’ve seen a player twerk this hard for us before. Looking forward to seeing him eventually though, some addition."
Mudryk's pining should come as no surprise, as the Ukraine international has persistently made clear his hope of playing for the Gunners and helping Arteta and co in their Premier League title charge. "I think every guy dreams about the Premier League," Mudryk revealed in a recent interview with CBS Sports.
"Arsenal is a very good team with a very good coach. I like the way they play. Yes, it would be hard to say no from my side, I can't say no but the transfer is not only my decision and my word."
Unfortunately for both him and Arsenal, though, Shakhtar are holding firm. One of the club's directors, Carlo Nicolini, warned last week that Mudryk wouldn't come cheap as a result of recent big-money transfers, such as Antony 's £86m move to Manchester United in August, which have inflated the market.
"Given that we have no need for transfers, we said in due time that we evaluate the player stronger than some other profiles, such as Antony. This is the benchmark," Nicolini explained to CalcioNapoli24.
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"The problem is that Italian clubs don't take advantage of opportunities, like AC Milan with [ Benfica midfielder] Enzo Fernandez, who is now worth over 100 million. When you arrive in time on a player you have to sink the shot, otherwise the prices change."
Arteta himself has kept tight-lipped on Mudryk specifically but he's made it known that he wants signings before the window closes on January 31. "We need to go a step further, we need players that already know what winning feels like and are able to transmit that," the Gunners boss affirmed after beating Oxford United 3-0 in the FA Cup on Monday.
"The likes of Gabi (Jesus) and Oleksandr (Zinchenko) we brought that to the football club, they are still very young, they don’t have that much experience but they are hungry and have the quality to deliver us to the next level."
