Shakhtar Donetsk CEO Sergei Palkin has insisted that it was an ‘outdoors visible impression’ that Mykhaylo Mudryk was near becoming a member of Arsenal previous to signing for Chelsea.
The Gunners had prioritised a transfer for the winger throughout the January switch window, although had been reluctant to match Shakhtar’s up-front price ticket – a stumbling block which the Blues took benefit of.
After a swift spherical of weekend negotiations, Mudryk was introduced as a Chelsea participant on Sunday, regardless of his very open desire to hitch Arsenal over the past month, repeatedly posting on social media concerning the Premier League leaders.
Chatting with The Athletic, Palkin revealed it was solely on Saturday that he realised Mudryk could be heading to Stamford Bridge as a substitute.
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“I realised two days in the past [Saturday] when Chelsea arrived right here – the co-owner Behdad Eghbali and [director of global talent and transfers] Paul Winstanley. They got here to Antalya in Turkey [where Shakhtar have been at a training camp],” he mentioned.
“Earlier than Chelsea arrived, I didn’t know they had been shut, as a result of I communicated with Arsenal in the identical means as I had with Chelsea. Even I can inform you extra: I met Arsenal extra occasions than Chelsea. Due to this fact, earlier than this final assembly, Arsenal was shut, or a bit bit nearer to this deal than Chelsea.
“When you don’t rely phone conversations, it was 3 times [he met with Arsenal].
“From my perspective, [the social media posts] is why all people talked about Arsenal. It’s as a result of Arsenal contacted the participant virtually one and a half months earlier than they contacted us. Are you able to think about, for instance, to have Mikel Arteta, Oleksandr Zinchenko and the sporting director calling you, to have Arsenal calling you almost every day, every two days, every three days? You can want or not want the move but you follow this kind of reception and contacts.
“If you talk about Chelsea, they called me at the end of December and asked if they can contact Mudryk because they are interested in him and want to talk with him. I said, ‘No problem, you can contact him’. The first time they contacted him was around the end of December or the start of January. They contacted the player and the agent of the player and they met the financial conditions.
“Therefore, why did many people around it have the impression that Mudryk was going to Arsenal? It is because Arsenal contacted him and then Mudryk started to watch some games of Arsenal. But negotiations are negotiations. When you didn’t close everything, when you did not [close] the last dot, then you cannot finish the deal. Therefore it was just an outside visual impression that Mudryk is close to Arsenal.”
Palkin added that despite reports stating otherwise, Arsenal’s total package was the same figure as Chelsea’s, but the issue was over how the fee would be paid.
“Overall, [their transfer offers were] the same. Not approximately the same – it was the same figure. The fixed part, variable part, bonuses. But if you look inside the fixed part and bonuses, it was completely different,” he added.
