Shakhtar Donetsk chief executive Sergei Palkin has explained what really went on with the Mykhaylo Mudryk transfer saga this January as Chelsea ended up beating Arsenal to the Ukraine international’s signature.
Mudryk has established himself as one of the most exciting young talents in world football in recent times, and it looked for a while like it was Arsenal leading the race for his signature.
Still, a late twist saw Chelsea hijack the deal for the 22-year-old, who was unveiled at Stamford Bridge for the win over Crystal Palace at the weekend.
Speaking about the deal and what really went on during the course of this intriguing saga, Palkin admitted to The Athletic that Chelsea ended up making a more “serious” effort to sign Mudryk.
While it seems the offers ended up being quite similar, Palkin suggested that Chelsea’s add-ons and bonuses were more realistic than those being offered by Arsenal, who were never perhaps as much in pole position as they seemed to be, going by various media reports over the course of the saga.
“Overall, it was 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,” Palkin said.
“Yes, we can talk about bonuses, but these bonuses should be somehow achievable and realistic, let’s say. Therefore, in this case, Chelsea was much more serious and fair in some points.
“When we met Chelsea, we stayed all together. For you to understand the context, it was for nine or 10 hours. They invited the player and explained to us the whole project.
“We realised that, yes, if you look right now, Chelsea have some kinds of problems but it is normal because they have a transition period from one owner to another. It is understandable. They would like to change a lot.
“So when they explain to you the whole story and you look for the next two, three, four, five years, then you see they have a serious project. I believe they will build one of the best clubs in the world because I am telling you, they are very serious in all directions: sports science, the stadium side, the commercial side, on all things. For us, they looked very ambitious.”