1 year ago
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Chelsea are stepping up their attempt to hijack Arsenal’s bid for Mykhailo Mudryk by holding further talks with Shakhtar Donetsk over a deal for the winger.
The Stamford Bridge club have already had positive discussions with Shakhtar and are confident that an offer of €70m, plus €30m in add-ons, will be enough to land Mudryk, who has been a long-term target for Arsenal. Negotiations over further add-ons are yet to be agreed.
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Chelsea’s owners, who want to back Graham Potter by bolstering their head coach’s squad this month, have travelled to Turkey to meet with their Ukrainian counterparts. Arsenal have been confident of landing Mudryk for an eventual fee of £80m. However, Chelsea have refused to go away and remain hopeful of disrupting Arsenal’s move for the 22-year-old Ukraine international. The west Londoners have refused to be put off by Mudryk making it clear that he wants to join Arsenal.
Chelsea, who host Crystal Palace on Sunday, are 10th in the Premier League after winning only one of their last nine league games. The pressure on Potter increased when his team lost 2-1 to Fulham on Thursday.
However, there is still firm backing for Potter, who will be without 11 players against Palace because of injury and suspension. Chelsea, who are also in talks with PSV Eindhoven over a deal for the winger Noni Madueke, want to support him with signings. They signed João Félix on loan earlier this week and have already added Benoît Badiashile, David Datro Fofana and Andrey Santos this window.
Chelsea are in the market for a central midfielder – they have looked at Benfica’s Enzo Fernández and the Brighton duo of Alexis Mac Allister and Moisés Caicedo – and are interested in the Borussia Mönchengladbach forward Marcus Thuram, who is out of contract in the summer.
It can also be revealed that the injury crisis in attack even led Chelsea to enquire about signing the West Ham forward Michail Antonio on a cheap loan. The offer was rejected as West Ham do not want to loan Antonio out. They are, however, open to selling the forward, who has interest from Wolves.
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