Chelsea co-owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital Group’s Behdad Eghbali continue to shake the global transfer landscape since their arrival at Stamford Bridge in the summer after splashing a combined £90m on 21-year-old Ukrainian starlet Mykhailo Mudryk.
For Blues fans, the notion that their club gazumped Premier League rivals Arsenal to the wonderkid’s signature brought a breath of fresh air to a season of frustration under Graham Potter as Chelsea continue to struggle during the 2022-23 campaign while sitting tenth in the table and well off the pace in the title race set by Mikel Arteta’s young Gunners.
The successful deal brought Chelsea’s 2022-23 spending to a staggering ~£400m across deals for Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella, Raheem Sterling, Benoît Badiashile, Kalidou Koulibaly, Carney Chukwuemeka, Andrey Santos, David Datro Fofana, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, João Félix, Gabriel Slonina, and Denis Zakaria in addition to Mudryk, with the Blues ownership duo giving their best impression of a video game simulation when it comes to player acquisition.
But the move for Mudryk, much like with Félix, materialized out of thin air after the club’s initial advance was said to be shot down by the youngster himself as he remained adamant at securing a move to Arsenal, only for Mudryk and former club Shakhtar Donetsk to eventually opt to strike terms with the Blues in the eleventh hour.
According to The Athletic’s Adam Crafton, the full details surrounding the move may surprise many.
Rumors that Arsenal was unable to match Chelsea’s total package were shot down in Crafton’s report after it was revealed that the total package bid offered by the pair of English giants was exactly the same. But where the Blues had a leg-up on their competitor came by way of the speed in which Shakhtar would receive compensation was much quicker as well as the add-ons being viewed as much more achievable, including winning the Premier League and/or the Champions League during the full duration of his contract, which would allow the Ukrainian side the best possible chance to receive every pound.
A new piece of the story came by way of information suggesting that Shakhtar was already on difficult terms with Arsenal after claims suggested the Gunners had approached Mudryk as early as October but had not received the club’s blessing to open preliminary negotiations surrounding possible personal terms.
Building on club relations, Shakhtar chief executive officer and general director Serhiy Palkin said “that deal with Arsenal was pretty much off before Chelsea landed, as he had told Edu that Shakhtar decided internally the Arsenal add-ons/payment schedule not good enough for them to sell” according to Crafton, which means that the Blues had a relatively free run at the 21-year-old attacking sensation rather.
To the club’s credit, Crafton also stated that Chelsea had spent as much as 10 hours in talks with both Shakhtar and Mudyrk to pitch the move, with the Blues set to feature in a friendly against the Ukrainians in Donetsk at a date to be determined
All told, Chelsea’s success in blitzing the market for top targets despite top competitive interest could soon be a hallmark of the club under its new ownership structure, and even though matters on the pitch have yet to be sorted, the club has still been able to flex its muscle in the market appropriately.
