Arsenal took a significant step in their transfer negotiations with Shakhtar Donetsk for their priority in January signing Mykhaylo Mudryk by launching a third offer. The Gunners saw two earlier rejected offers on the window for the 22-year-old, but now a deal is closer than ever to completion, as football.london understands.
£55m plus add-ons was Arsenal’s initial offer and the latest offer for Mudryk indicates the north London team’s seriousness in acquiring their January priority. It has been suggested that the fee for the Ukrainian could be in the region of £75-80m, which would put him above Nicolás Pepe as Arsenal’s record signing.
The advance for Arsenal comes as a major boost after Chelsea showed serious interest in signing Mudryk, with Shakhtar chairman Dario Srna meeting Chelsea representatives at Stamford Bridge last Thursday.
The deadlock in negotiations between Arsenal and Mudryk, which saw minimal significant updates for almost a week, was mainly due to Shakhtar’s reluctance to reduce their demands due to a number of factors beyond their control.
These factors haven’t stopped Mudryk from spouting numerous transfer hints, particularly on Instagram, and the latest plea from him came late Thursday night when news broke of a new offer from Arsenal where he posted a praying emoji on Instagram.
Now it looks like the big hurdle preventing a deal from reaching the late stages is out of the way, with the Gunners closing in on Shakhtar’s valuation. Although the two clubs may have reached an overall agreement, a quandary may still be at play with the Ukrainian club likely to demand a higher fee up front than Arsenal are willing to pay.
A preferable buying club structure would be to use add-ons to achieve the desired overall financial reference price rather than rate increases. However, now that a deal is nearing, the Gunners seem to have set a deadline to complete the transfer.
A post by PucelaNews_1928 on Twitter detailing interest from Arsenal. Real Vallodolid right-back Iván Fresneda mentioned January 18 as the potential date a move could be made for the 18-year-old Spaniard. They say they have asked for patience regarding a Fresneda move while the final details of Mudryk’s transfer are secured.
