DEAL CONFIRMED: European star signed a 5-year contract at £37k/week & £60m +£20m in add ons, Medical set -so says Dutch journalist:
I don’t know who Jeroen Stekelenburg is, but he’s claiming that Mudryk has signed a contract to join Arsenal, but there was some delay to the announcement. According to Stekelenburg, well, you can see it in his tweet. It’s hard to know about these stories, and this gentleman’s account doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. Yes, there’s a link to the Dutch news website nos.nl, but his account has only 1,436 followers. Heck, I have more than that, and you see how often I speak out of my own arse.
Aside from the suspicions around how this particular journalist managed to crack the story ahead of other, more-established sources such as Ornstein or Romano, the fee (and £20m in add-ons) does seem very much in line with previous rumours and would seem like a sensible compromise position between Shakhtar’s previously intractable and inflated insistence on £100m. Maybe this guy knows what he’s talking about. I’ve seen some dubious eyebrows rise at the idea that this sensational talent, the Pride of Ukraine, would be paid just £37,000 per week. However, a quick check does show that Saka, Smith-Rowe are on similar wages, with reports ranging from the low 30s to the high 40s. As with transfer rumours, one needs a considerable supply of grains of salt to take with these figures.
It’s really a shame that coverage of these transfer-sagas seems to come from a festering, simmering swamp of journalists, agents, hangers-on, and others, from these seething galaxies of gnats and mosquitoes and no-see-ums and other blood-sucking parasites that seemingly only exist to make our lives miserable (and I say so with painful self-awareness as I consider just how far into that swamp I’ve stepped with this post’s headline). They prey on our hopes and fears by splashing a lurid headline over an “article” that might be a mere 200 words long, all of which rehashes the same detail-free, fact-averse, and nuance-heavy reporting you can find at hundreds of other sites. Enough meta-posting, however.
Almost as maddening is the shocking speed with which Chelsea moved to sign João Félix. It seemed like their negotiations with Atletico Madrid lasted all of about a week. While we can scoff at the fact that they’ve now spent almost £350m in transfer fees alone on misfiring forwards since the 2020 summer window, we may end up eating crow if Félix becomes the first of the bunch to come even close to justfiying their expenditure. I’m not saying that Edu and Arteta are dithering like late-stage Wenger, who frequently waited until the last day and even sometimes the last hour as a negotiating tactic to drive down a player’s fee.
However, if this Mudryk doesn’t come to a fruitful conclusion—and soon, at that—fans’ reactions may run hotter than any setting on Edu’s BBQ.
