Arsenal table £45m to sign Shakhtar star
Arteta has been focused on adding a winger, a central midfielder and a left-sided centre-back to his squad
Arsenal have made an official bid in excess of £45 million to sign Mykhailo Mudryk.
Mikel Arteta has made it a priority to sign the Shakhtar Donetsk winger, 21, when the transfer window opens on Sunday.
Arsenal’s offer includes bonuses and add-ons based on appearances but falls short of the £80 million asking price of the Ukrainian side, who have yet to give a formal answer.
Arsenal believe that personal terms will not be an issue with Mudryk, who has scored ten and assisted eight goals across the Ukrainian Premier League and Champions League this season.
Shakhtar finished third in their group, dropping into the Europa League, and have accepted that they will have to sell him for a good price despite him having a contract until 2026.
Arteta has been focused on adding a winger, a central midfielder and left-sided centre-back to his squad.
He fears that he could be without Gabriel Jesus for three months following knee surgery, leaving Eddie Nketiah as the only recognised centre forward.
Mudryk can play on either wing but prefers the left, as he showed against Scotland in the World Cup play-offs.
He spent four years at Metalist Kharkiv, a further two at Dnipro and joined Shakhtar in 2018. Against Ajax in pre-season Mudryk ran from his own half, beating the defenders Devyne Rensch and Jurrien Timber before then shooting past the goalkeeper Remko Pasveer with an unstoppable shot.
Mudryk was born and raised in Krasnohrad, a city in Kharkiv Oblast shelled by Russian artillery last month. Bayer Leverkusen, Brentford and Arsenal chased Mudryk in the summer and Everton made a £26.1 million bid recently.
