I don't usually like footballers doing this stuff, but Shaktar's valuation is ridiculous and he's doing it for us so fuck it. Keep at it.
Mykhaylo Mudryk, Ukrainian Wizard
QuincyAbeyie I think Raphina made it quite clear he only wanted Barca, that is why we backed down. Chelsea thought they could still force the deal through but once the player had decided it was only Barca, Leeds then had to deal with them. As long as our offer isn't ridiculous if the player only wants us we stand a good chance.
Also as we've seen with the details emerging about Chelsea's bid for Enzo Fernandes maybe Chelsea they won't go as high as Shakhtar are hoping.
Yeah, he needs to cut it out. It's not professional. Plus, if he will do this to Shakthar now, why won't he do the same or worse to us if/when he wants to leave us?
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flobaba Yeah, he needs to cut it out. It's not professional. Plus, if he will do this to Shakthar now, why won't he do the same or worse to us if/when he wants to leave
That's football tbh. Shaktar are looking out for themselves and not him; if they cared about him they wouldn't be trying to flog him to Chelsea. He's entitled to look out for his own interests
It's to much even 70 mil with any structure you want. He looks good but not that good, I would move on.
This window is already winding me up big time. I just don't trust us to ever truly push the boat out when needed. And do we have a plan B?
Will be a long month.
We did what was necessary two summers ago and brought in Ramsdale, White, Tomi etc. We did what was necessary this summer and brought in Jesus and Zinchenko.
We are top of the table. Things seem to be moving along fine
Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert To be fair we have got deals like Ben White & Ramsdale over the line despite the selling club pushing back heavily.
This isn't personal, just business. Shakhtar are within their right to demand what they can for their player. We need to convince the player and stick to our guns.
I trust Mikel’s judgment on this. It there is one thing he knows it is a wide attacking player, if he thinks he’s worth the extra £10m-£15m then do it.
He’s young and has great potential, this is where you can sometimes pay big and take a risk.
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That's also true and why I have been all for it when price was 'reasonable'. Calibre of player brought in has generally been great and for the way we play I can definitely see why we want him
Just feel with a player like this it either bang or bust and for 80m, it's risky. How much would Felix cost? 80-90? What I'm saying is, If we are going to reach that level of spend then it would be worth reassessing the market as it potentially opens up more options for us..
The guy is deep throating us. Should just say I’m only going to sign for us.
Forwards are one area where you have to overspend really. Look at how much Wolves wanted for Neto or how much Madrid pay for these young Brazilian guys. If Mudryk is as good as Martinelli or Saka then £60070m is a bargain.
Doc Having that kind of raw pace would be great, we have quick players but nobody who is gonna burn someone like he would.
I think Atletico would want more than that for Felix. They paid like £110m for him, Also the difference is Mudryk you feel he is starting to elevate himself to the next level. Felix is struggling at a top club so there will be big question marks about him. That is why a loan would work well for now so we can assess the player before making a move.
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Thought I’d spotted him at the time on the TV coverage.
Loser.
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I expect these deals to take a long time. So if you’re sitting around thinking these players will play versus Oxford, rethink. Lots of moving parts here. Fortunately, January and February are both manageable month schedule -wise. They need to be ramped up for March when we have 7 games, and the run in.
The good thing is we don’t have too many games in Jan. Dropping out the League Cup was a huge blessing.
ESR is coming back into the fold so he’ll have to be the attacking option off the bench against Spurs and United.
the last 24 hours has seen sky/athletic/telegraph all saying we're stepping up our interest in felix. could be legit, or a strategic media brief to get shaktar to cut the malarkey
With Mudryk repeatedly giving us 
s on his socials, we could afford to pause our pursuit of him here for a week or more, Félix or otherwise.
Let his people have a few pissy conversations with Chelsea, so they know they're going to have to drag him along or buy him out, and Shakhtar know they'll look like pricks in the process. We've bid £62m. It's likely not quite enough, but it's far from insulting. If we have to armwrestle with Chelsea, let's not be too enthusiastic about it. If he readily chooses them, it wasn't to be.
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So, the only fear is if he turns out like Zlatan/Mbappe - generational type talent, where we look back in regret and say we could've had that for a few more million quid.
Other than that I'm happy to pass at this stage.
I do think we can /should be a little bit more ruthless with our transfers though. Especially when the player has indicated ample interest in joining. Negotiate, but be ready and willing to put in some extra cash if needed to wrap things up fast. You hardly ever hear other big teams get caught up or slowed down by player pricing considerations. If they are going in, most times they are going in to seal the deal quickly and move on. We have the money so I don't get what the hold up is really.
Nobody seems to know if it's real or not since he's unliked if it is, lol.
Chelsea are like that dickhead bloke with a bit of cash and nice accessories that tries to muscle in on the girl you’ve been flirting with all evening.
So if Chelsea get him they’ll have Sterling, Nkunku and him next season
Can Chelsea fuck off?
lorddulaarsenal Sterling is so past it.
Wonder if this makes a difference in their pursuit for Mudryk.
If/when Mudryk comes here, he benches Martinelli pretty quickly I think.
Yeah. Who's CPM previously?
CPM think so. Get the feeling that Martinelli isn’t really an Arteta player. Was relatively slow to incorporate him in to the side and I get the impression that Mikel has been somewhat pleasantly surprised by his level of performance.
lorddulaarsenal I don't see any reason to think this.
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Wasn't he coming back from a long-term absence and trying to displace Auba at the start of Arteta's tenure? Think Arteta is a big fan but starting to think that maybe he sees Martinelli as a central option in the longer term.
Don Pacifico I have a feeling that is right.
So I really want us to complete the Mudryk deal asap