Shakhtar accuse Arsenal of tapping up Mudryk before Chelsea move – but didn’t tell FIFA

On Jan 17, 2023

Shakhtar Donetsk’s chief executive, Sergei Palkin, has accused Arsenal of tapping up Mykhaylo Mudryk, before he joined Chelsea on Saturday.

Mudryk left the Ukrainian side to join the Blues to the tune of £88million – despite looking set to join the Gunners. However, speaking to The Athletic, Palkin has now revealed Arsenal had tapped up Mudryk before losing out on him.

He said: “Arsenal contacted the player almost one and a half months before they contacted us.” The Shakhtar man went on to add Mikel Arteta, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Edu had contacted Mudryk most days.

He continued: “When I met Arsenal and they mentioned they had already talked to the player and they had contacted the player, to be honest, I knew beforehand that they had started to contact him.

“I said, ‘OK, you start to contact him but first of all you should close it with us’. But OK, we have what we have… We didn’t do a formal complaint. They did what they did.”

Palkin also revealed that Chelsea had first contacted Shakhtar at the end of December, before opening negotiations with Mudryk at the start of January.

Do you think Chelsea’s £88million deal for Mykhailo Mudryk is a good one? Let us know in the comments section

Mykhaylo Mudryk has signed for Chelsea instead of Arsenal
(Image: Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

Mudryk was presented to his new fans at Stamford Bridge at half-time during the Blues’ clash with Crystal Palace.

The Ukrainian said: “I’m so happy to sign for Chelsea. This is a huge club, in a fantastic league and it is a very attractive project for me at this stage of my career. I’m excited to meet my new team-mates and I’m looking forward to working and learning under Graham Potter and his staff.”