Paul Merson thinks Arsenal have made the right decision after refusing to match Chelsea’s offer for Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhailo Mudryk.
This has been quite the transfer saga.
Arsenal have been chasing Mudryk for months now, even going all the way back to the end of the summer transfer window.
It looked like Arsenal were going to land their man with Mudryk publicly flirting with the Gunners in recent weeks.
Shakhtar stuck to their asking price on Mudryk though and refused to sell to Arsenal in what was becoming a frustrating situation for Mikel Arteta and Edu.
Arsenal appeared to be closing in last week but Chelsea came out of nowhere and paid huge money to nip in and beat Arsenal.
Mudryk was presented at Stamford Bridge on Sunday with Chelsea parading their new season, leaving Arsenal to look elsewhere.
Paul Merson backs Arsenal decision on Mykhailo Mudryk
Edu and Arteta wanted to add another attacking player this month, adding depth in their quest for the Premier League title.
The two names most heavily mentioned were Mudryk and Joao Felix, but both players have ended up joining Chelsea instead.
That’s not one but two major blows for Arsenal and fans are now hoping to see Edu find another quality player after missing out on Mudryk.
Whilst the rumour mill will start churning again soon enough, former Arsenal ace Paul Merson feels the Gunners have made the right decision.
Merson has told Sky Sports that he thinks Arsenal will end up going for Barcelona winger Raphinha, highlighting that the Catalan giants need to ‘settle their books’.
Merson added that Chelsea are probably paying Mudryk much more than he would have earned at Arsenal.
The former midfielder thinks Arsenal would have risked unsettling their current players if they matched Chelsea’s offer, which isn’t ideal in a title race.
“They’ll have to regroup again. Surely they have another few players in the pipeline, surely they haven’t put all their eggs into one basket,” said Merson. “I think they might go for Raphinha at Barcelona, they’ve got to settle their books.”
“He [Mudryk] is probably getting more money at Chelsea. If Arsenal then go ‘wait a minute, we’ll give you those wages’, how do you think all the players will react? It’s a happy dressing room at the moment, and you give another player £200k or £300k, it gets around the dressing room, players start getting unsettled and you’re better not rocking the boat. These chances don’t come around too often and you’ve got to seize the moment. You don’t want to ruin it,” he added.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
