Chelsea could hijack Mudryk to Arsenal deal at the last minute

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Things are never straightforward when it comes to transfers and Arsenal.

The Gunners looked to have a deal for Mykhaylo Mudryk sewn up. The Times had reported that a deal was likely to be concluded within the week, and it finally seemed as though we could put this long drawn-out saga to bed.

However, now, there has been one late, potentially final, twist in the tale.

Indeed, according to Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea are trying to hijack this deal at the eleventh hour. The Blues’ board are in Poland to discuss this deal and a €100m (£88m) bid is ready to go.

Chelsea have done what Arsenal haven’t – they have met Shakhtar’s asking price.

Ever since the start of this saga the Ukrainian club have been asking for £88m for Mudryk, and now, they are seemingly in a position to get the fee they want.

This really is a dream scenario for Shakhtar, they wanted a huge fee for Mudryk, and now it looks like they have a bidding war on their hands.

Meanwhile, the deal that the Times reported on with Arsenal was only worth £80m, so the Ukrainian club may be inclined to go with Chelsea’s offer rather than Arsenal’s.

Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean that Chelsea’s attempts at hijacking this deal will be successful.

Arsenal have always been Mudryk’s first-choice, and given that Arsenal are just £8m away from Shakhtar’s asking price, it’s not unrealistic to suggest that the Gunners could up their bid to match Chelsea’s.

However, given that The Athletic reported on Saturday that Arsenal have made their upper-limit on this deal clear to Shakhtar, perhaps their race is now run.

This story has had more twists and turns than the spaghetti junction, and somehow, it feels as though there may still be a few more developments in this tale over the next week.

Chelsea are prepared to pay Mudryk’s asking price, and that may well have put them slightly ahead in this race.

Now, it’s time to see how Arsenal react to this latest development, because it’s hard to imagine that Edu and Mikel Arteta will give up on signing Mudryk after such a prolonged pursuit.