Mykhaylo Mudryk is keen to leave in January (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Arsenal and Newcastle United will have to break their transfer record in order to sign Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhaylo Mudryk after the Ukrainians set a £87.5m asking price for the forward.
The 21-year-old has caught the eye of Europe’s elite during the last 18 months but it’s his performances in this season’s Champions League that have really made clubs sit up and pay attention.
Mudryk attracted attention from Arsenal and Everton last summer but the Gunners were put off by Shakhtar’s £30m valuation of the winger.
That decision looks foolish now as Mudryk’s stock has risen significantly since, with the likes of Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain now monitoring his services.
And Shakhtar Director of Football Dario Srna says clubs will have to pay in the region of £87.5m if they want to sign Mudryk.
Mudryk has sparkled this term (Photo by JANEK SKARZYNSKI / AFP) (Photo by JANEK SKARZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
“If somebody wants to buy Mudryk, they must pay huge, huge, huge money,’ Srna told the Athletic.
‘Otherwise the president of the club (Rinat Akhmetov) will not sell him. All the clubs must respect the President, respect Shakhtar and in the end they must respect Mykhaylo Mudryk, who is one of the best players I saw. The price is so big.
‘The market is deciding the price — not me.
‘Antony, Grealish, they are players of more than €100m and for me, Mudryk does not have less quality than them. This is the last two transfers in the past year, in more or less the same positions. Sancho from Borussia Dortmund. We want just respect. The market is deciding the price, not me, it shows which kind of players cost this kind of money.’
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Earlier this week, the winger gave major hope to Arsenal over a move to the Emirates by revealing he’d rather a move to north London than the likes of Real Madrid if he meant that he would start matches.
‘From a purely theoretical-fantasy perspective, if there was the option of being a bench player for Real Madrid or a starter for Arsenal, I’d probably choose Arsenal,’ the winger said.
‘But I’d first want to know from the head coach that I’d receive a chance’.
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A man in demand…
