‘Very open’: ‘Gifted’ player really wants Arsenal move, but clubs are £17m apart on valuation – journalist
Ben Jacobs has told the Football Terrace that Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhaylo Mudryk really wants to move to Arsenal, but the clubs are around £17 million apart on their valuation of the player.
The Gunners were targeting Mudryk over the summer as Mikel Arteta was keen to strengthen his attacking options.
Reports suggested that Shakhtar Donetsk wanted ‘crazy’ money for the winger and it seems that Arsenal aren’t willing to pay up at this moment in time.
Arteta was clearly keen to bring in another winger to compete with Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli in the summer window.
But now Jacobs has revealed why the Gunners didn’t push to sign the ‘gifted’ Mudryk.
Mudryk really wants Arsenal move
“Mudryk is on Arsenal’s radar but they never made a bid in the last window but they certainly enquired about the player,” Jacobs told the Football Terrace.
“And he’s very open to the Arsenal move if they come calling and there’s a parallel almost between Mudryk and Youri Tielemans in that respect.
“Tielemans said very openly that he wanted Arsenal but Arsenal never came in and with Mudryk, he’s now said on record to myself that if Arsenal made an offer it would be very hard to say no, but Arsenal haven’t moved.
“And one of the reasons why they haven’t moved is because Shakhtar are asking for over 50 million euros and Arsenal’s valuation is much closer to 30 million euros.
“It may be in January that the interested parties are able to meet somewhere in the middle but the challenge from the perspective of a prospective buyer is that if Mudryk keeps scoring in the Champions League and he’s now two for two and his goal against Celtic was an absolute rocket, the price is only going to go up.
“And of course, if Shakhtar are going to qualify for the knockout stages they’ll have Champions League football beyond January and it might well persuade Mudryk to stay and then go in a year’s time rather than in January.
Jacobs went on to say that the Gunners remain interested in signing a creative wide player. And Arteta firmly believes that Mudryk could fulfil this role in the Arsenal side on either wing.
The CBS Sports journalist also stated that there is a ‘real opportunity’ if Arsenal do decide to firm up their interest in the player.
But Arteta’s men are not planning to bid for the player at this moment in time.
“But for now, Arsenal are not planning a bid, I think that’s a bit too strong, in January,” Jacobs added.
“But what they are doing is monitoring the situation because they know that he’s a top, top talent.”
Mudryk has put in some outstanding displays in the Champions League so far this season and has scored two goals in two outings.
There’s no doubting that the 21-year-old has a big future ahead of him but it seems that the two clubs are very far apart on their valuation of the starlet.
