Ian Wright, former Arsenal player, has criticized Chelsea’s transfer deal for the Ukrainian player Mykhailo Mudryk, suggesting that the club does not have a clear idea of what they want for the forward after finalizing a £88.6m deal....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
Wright also stated that his former club, Arsenal, cannot compete with the financial muscle of Chelsea, and that they had missed out on their primary target despite having agreed personal terms with the player.
Mikel Arteta, Arsenal’s coach, said that his team needs to retain discipline in the transfer market after missing out on Mudryk. Chelsea’s coach, Graham Potter, also said that the club cannot just keep signing new players, after the player’s on-pitch appearance.
Wright suggested that Mudryk would just be a player that joins the Blues ever-growing ‘roster’, adding that he hoped the deal works out for the player’s sake.
Wright said “It’s one of those, unfortunately, that we may have missed out on but Arsenal cannot, cannot compete with what Chelsea can offer a player like that. But what’s happening at Arsenal is that they’re on a road to doing something and building something and they see Mudryk as a player who can come in, the way he plays, his attitude, the way he is, would’ve been perfect for the group.
But the money they want, Arsenal can’t go there, so you have to move on to the next person simply because we cannot compete with Chelsea.”
Arsenal had several bids for the player turned down, having appeared unwilling to meet the demands of Shakhtar Donetsk. An initial £52m was rejected, before the Gunners increased their bid to £62m, before a third bid of £62m plus £20m in add-ons was rejected leaving Chelsea to swoop in and snap up a deal for the 22-year-old.
Mudryk’s move to Stamford Bridge saw him put pen to paper on an eight-and-a-half year deal at the club, with the Blues having reportedly doubled Arsenal’s contract offer to see the Ukrainian earn in excess of £100,000-a-week.
It’s worth mentioning that Chelsea have already completed deals for Benoit Badiashile, David Datro Fofana, Gabriel Slonina, Andrey Santos and Chsristopher Nkunku in January, as well as a loan move for Joao Felix.
This could lead to questions about the club’s strategy and how they plan to integrate all these new players. It’s clear that Chelsea’s transfer strategy is different than Arsenal’s, while the latter is more focus on building a team, the former is more focus on buying talents and fit them into their system.
