Premier League leaders Arsenal face the potential of a bidding war for highly-touted Ukrainian international Mykhailo Mudryk as the January transfer window begins to heat up in England after domestic rivals Chelsea look to strongarm their way to the negotiating table with Shakhtar Donetsk.
The Gunners are locked in ongoing discussions over the 21-year-old wonderkid after fielding a second bid that still appears to be short of the Ukrainian outfit’s valuation of the player, which has left the door open for temporary sporting director and Blues co-owner Todd Boehly to attempt to sweep in at the eleventh hour as the west London outfit continues its free-spending practices in the wake of the new ownership consortium planting roots at Stamford Bridge.
But despite their clear interest in Mudryk, Arsenal will avoid being pulled into a protracted checkbook war with Boehly and Clarion Capital, with CBS Sports’ Ben Jacobs’ latest update on the situation detailing the measure of calm that currently resides at London Colney on the basis that the club will keep faith in its talent ID and recruitment sector when it comes to placing a ceiling on what Arsenal is prepared to spend on any given player.
Should Chelsea make a massive offer (well above market value and beyond Arsenal’s top-end valuation) it would play into Shakhtar’s hands. But Arsenal won’t get involved in a bidding war.
— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) January 4, 2023
This stance is a long-standing one in the Gunners’ hierarchical camp that has already been tested and subsequently passed with flying colors during the previous transfer windows.
Should Mudryk end up at Chelsea, Arsenal will no doubt have other targets in the pipeline that the club can pivot to, just as they have done previously when the numbers did not add up from a financial perspective.
The likes of James Maddison, Dušan Vlahović, Emiliano Buendía, and Lisandro Martínez had all been pinging on the Gunners’ radar screen in the past before the club ultimately would move on and, eventually, secure deals for current vital first-team assets in the vein of Martin Ødegaard, Gabriel Jesus, and Oleksandr Zinchenko.
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