Wonder if they weren't willing to sell at all in the summer or if he's simply improved more than we thought he would? The prices being talked about were much lower.

They wanted to sell for the right price but Elneny injury meant we changed our priorities from him to Douglas Luiz (lol).

Since then he has impressed in 6 more UCL matches so....

His profile has grown for sure, though as ever with these things it's also dependant on who's primarily after him. If Everton and Brentford are the main guys in pursuit then you're not going to demand £80m. I suspect in private they know we're not United either so will probably accept a lot lower than what they're publicly asking for.

– And the issue all the world football media is interested in: Mykhailo Mudryk's potential transfer to another championship. Is such transfer possible now or is such option not being considered at the moment?
– Negotiations are continuing. We receive offers, but they are not the ones we would like to see on our table. Now, literally in 5 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.

https://shakhtar.com/en/news/2022/december/29_news/29_sergei-palkin/

This will likely be the most tiring transfer story in memory. It has Baptista / Robinho levels of intensity. The bloody Shaktar idiots give media updates every 6 hours saying they want the Antony price. Meanwhile we’ve convinced Pornstein we are interested in Felix as a bargaining chip. It could drag on forever and be a bore. Let me know when it’s over one way or another

Since Arshavin you mean.

It's done one way or another anyway. More interested to see if Felix will sign too

    Definitely feels like it's close to happening with Shakhtar milking it for everything. This will feel like a big moment when it happens.

    United have skewed the market paying zillions for a fidget spinner

    Clrnc
    Arshavin was a bit fun, especially here with all the llama nonsense. Arshavin was also the first true social media era Arsenal transfer sensation. It was quite the time.

    The Brazilian boy stories just dragged and dragged. And then Madrid said “we’ll take them, thank you!”

      That Baptista one was weird.

      We courted him throughout the summer of 2005 as a "Vieira replacement" but when we couldn't get it done we signed Hleb instead, who couldn't have been more different 😆

        Was hoping we could wrap this up quickly , big games coming up in the new year. Guess we will have to overpay or forget it

        https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/dec/30/chelsea-open-talks-with-benfica-over-deal-for-argentinas-enzo-fernandez

        Chelsea have identified Brighton & Hove Albion’s Alexis Mac Allister as an alternative to Enzo Fernández if a deal for the Benfica midfielder proves too costly during January, while the west London club could also hijack Arsenal’s bid for the Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhailo Mudryk.

        Ah, fuck off Chelsea