Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhaylo Mudryk has been attracting plenty of attention recently. Reports by various media outlets have spoken about interest from the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, and the words of Shakhtar Director of Football Darijo Srna seem to indicate that there’s truth in those stories.
As relayed by Adam Crafton of The Athletic, Srna has openly declared that the Ukrainian club expect to receive at least €100 million for the services of the 21-year-old at the end of the season. The former Croatia international compared the value and the quality of Mudryk to that of Jack Grealish of Manchester City, or Antony, who left Ajax to join Manchester United this summer for a fee in that region.
Having gone through the ranks of the club’s academy, Mudryk was promoted to the senior squad last year, and he so far has 10 goals and 17 assists in 42 matches in all competitions. He also has eight caps as a Ukraine international to his name.
“If somebody wants to buy Mudryk, they must pay huge, huge, huge money,” Srna said. “Otherwise the president of the club (Rinat Akhmetov) will not sell him. All the clubs must respect the President, respect Shakhtar and in the end they must respect Mykhaylo Mudryk, who is one of the best players I saw. The price is so big.”
“The market is deciding the price — not me. Antony, Grealish, they are players of more than €100m and for me, Mudryk does not have less quality than them.
“This is the last two transfers in the past year, in more or less the same positions. Sancho from Borussia Dortmund. We want just respect. The market is deciding the price, not me, it shows which kind of players cost this kind of money.”
Mudryk himself spoke about his future a couple of days ago, and revealed that he would rather go to a club like Arsenal and play regularly than join Real Madrid to sit on the bench.
