Shakhtar Donetsk set Arsenal a huge fee for Mykhaylo Mudryk transfer

The Premier League leaders saw an opening offer for the Ukraine international rejected this week.

Shakhtar Donetsk have urged Arsenal to offer a fee closer to the £100 million (€113.2m) Manchester City paid for Jack Grealish in 2021 to sign Mykhaylo Mudryk.

The Ukrainian club rejected Arsenal’s opening bid for Mudryk this week. The offer was worth a reported €65 million (£57m) – €40 million (£35.2m) up front and a further €25 million (£22m) in add-ons.

“You need an important offer. Arsenal may have made such an offer, but there is negotiation,” Shakhtar executive Carlo Nicolini told Calcio Mercato.

“Players were sold that the clubs wanted to sell and that we consider no stronger than Mudryk with a valuation of around £100m, so we consider no less than £60m.

“I am not the one to make the figure, I have no particular indications from the company, but the director has said that we need an important offer closer to Grealish than [the €92.7m (£82m) Manchester United paid] for Antony. If the cash figure is £40m, it is not even taken into account.”

Shakhtar’s CEO is on the same page

After Nicolini’s Grealish demand, Sergei Palkin announced he would speak again with Arsenal. The Shakhtar CEO, however, suggested Mudryk may only leave the club for the right price.

“Negotiations are continuing. We receive offers, but they are not the ones we would like to see on our table,” Palkin told the club’s website.

“Now, literally in five minutes, I will have a phone conversation with Arsenal. We are open to negotiations, ready to exchange ideas and figures. If we will agree, then let it be so. If we will not, then let it be another time.”

Arsenal will be back in action on Saturday for a New Year’s Eve trip to Brighton in the Premier League.