Arsenal transfer target has been spotted talking to Shakhtar Donetsk chief Darijo Srna at the club’s training camp in Turkey. Arsenal are edging closer to agreeing a deal with the Ukrainian club for the talented winger.
Mudryk has made it clear he is keen on a move to Arsenal this month. However, the Gunners are yet to finalise a fee and have already seen two bids prove unsuccessful.
Shakhtar are publicly demanding a fee of around £88million (€100m) but Arsenal are confident of striking an agreement at a lower price. Mudryk rejoined his side for their pre-season training camp on Tuesday.
On Wednesday morning, Shakhtar posted a series of videos of their squad from their base in Antalya on the club’s official Instagram story. The videos showed the players arriving as well as having some team-bonding and going through some gym work.
Shakhtar posted 15 videos, one of which saw Mudryk deep in conversation with director of football Srna. The duo spoke one-on-one and it was the only video of the 15 in which the sound was removed.
It is unclear as to what the pair were discussing. But Arsenal’s interest could have been one of the topics.
Srna is heavily involved in discussions over Mudryk’s future. He was at Stamford Bridge last week to hold talks with Chelsea over a potential deal.
Chelsea now appear to be out of the running, with Arsenal leading a one-horse race for the 22-year-old Ukraine international. CBS Sports reporter Ben Jacobs claimed on Tuesday that Arsenal have held positive talks with Shakhtar this week.
Arsenal are set to increase their latest offer of £62m. Shakhtar are demanding more money to be paid up front and nothing has been agreed between the two clubs yet.
Srna claimed in November that Mudryk is worth a similar amount to that of Manchester United star Antony and Manchester City’s Jack Grealish. He told The Athletic: “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.
“[Jadon] Sancho from Borussia Dortmund. We just want respect. The market is deciding the price, not me, it shows which kind of players cost this kind of money.”
