Newcastle United January target admits he’d ‘choose Arsenal’ as club triple asking price

The 21-year-old has attracted interest from the likes of Newcastle, Arsenal and Everton following his impressive performances in the Champions League and domestically. Mudryk has scored eight goals in 16 appearances so far this season including three in the Champions League group stage.

In the summer, clubs were put off Shakhtar’s £30million valuation the the player after he scored two goals in 19 appearances in all competitions last season. And his eye-catching form this season has seen the Ukrainian side almost triple their valuation.

Shakhatar Director of Football Dario Srna claims any interested clubs would have to pay around £87.5million in order to sign Mudryk.

And he used the recent transfers of Jack Grealish to Manchester City and Antony and Jadon Sancho to Manchester United as justifications for the valuation.

“If somebody wants to buy Mudryk, they must pay huge, huge, huge money,” Srna told the Athletic. "Otherwise the president of the club [Rinat Akhmetov] will not sell him.

"All the clubs must respect the President, respect Shakhtar and in the end they must respect Mykhaylo Mudryk, who is one of the best players I saw. The price is so big.

"Antony, Grealish, they are players of more than €100m and for me, Mudryk does not have less quality than them.

"This is the last two transfers in the past year, in more or less the same positions. Sancho from Borussia Dortmund. We want just respect. The market is deciding the price, not me, it shows which kind of players cost this kind of money.”

While Newcastle are interested in Mudryk, the player has recently been ‘flirting’ with Arsenal over a potential move and joining up with Ukraine team-mate Oleksandr Zinchenko.

He said: “I follow Arsenal closely, they’re a very dynamic side. One surprise for me was how many Arsenal fans followed me. No other club’s fans have interacted as much as them. They always tell me: ‘come to us!’

“From a purely theoretical-fantasy perspective, if there was the option of being a bench player for Real Madrid or a starter for Arsenal, I’d probably choose Arsenal.

“But I’d first want to know from the head coach that I’d receive a chance”.