Roberto De Zerbi hadn’t seen much of Mykhaylo Mudryk but he was willing to put his reputation on the line.
“If I don’t bring him to a high level, I will consider a personal defeat,” the then Shakhtar Donetsk coach said of the precocious young left winger fresh out of the club’s academy.
De Zerbi is at Brighton now so is no longer reaping the benefits of his careful work with Mudryk. But the 21-year-old Ukraine international, set to reacquaint himself with Scotland in Tuesday’s Nations League decider, fulfilled his prediction and then some.
A year ago Mudryk, skilful, deceptively strong and quick, was the best kept secret in European scouting circles. Now they all know the man dubbed “the Ukranian Neymar”, and most believe he will become a household name soon with Premier League clubs considering whether to nibble at Shakhtar Donetsk’s pricetag just south of £50m.
More from Football
i understands that Newcastle United are the latest club to take a serious interest in Mudryk.
The Magpies are in the market for a winger and have watched the Ukraine international. His asking price is not beyond them.
But they face competition in the shape of Arsenal, Everton and even upwardly mobile Brentford. Liverpool have also been linked with a player who Shakhtar’s director of football Darijo Srna rates as part of the elite despite having played less than 50 times in senior football.
“Mudryk is a serious talent,” Srna told CBS Sports earlier this month. “After Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr, he’s the best player in Europe in his position. If someone wants to buy Mudryk they must spend a lot, a lot, a lot of money and respect our club and our president.”
His is an incredible story: emerging from the shadow of the invasion of his homeland by Russia last year to become one of the rising stars of European football.
At Hampden last week and in Champions League games this season, almost every top club in Europe and most in the Premier League have been represented.
When Mudryk returns to Scotland in a month’s time for Shakhtar Donetsk’s Champions League game against Celtic, the club’s administrators might need to open up another section for all the requests they’ll get from English scouts for a birds eye view of the player.
Most, though, want to play down the potential of a player who has emerged almost from nowhere in the last 12 months – for fear that his pricetag will rocket.
“It’s an absolute certainty that he will be playing in the Premier League in the next 12 months,” one senior recruitment source told i.
His pace and work rate have been identified as attributes that will enable him to hit the ground running in England.
Our source said: “He is tailor-made for English football and every club knows it. He ticks every box technically and his age and relative inexperience mean he’s only going to get better.
“He’s a long way off being the finished article but he’s got all the attributes. He’s undoubtedly one of the most exciting prospects in European football right now.”
Brentford’s August bid – late in the transfer window, sensing a moment in time when they might have been able to extricate him from Shakhtar Donetsk – reflected an acknowledgement that he is a player destined for the top, whose upward trajectory may soon bring him to the attention of Europe’s super clubs.
A goal and two assists!
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) September 14, 2022
Mykhaylo Mudryk's dazzling display against Leipzig@FCShakhtar || #UCL pic.twitter.com/VnvwAUG3oe
They have been watching, of course. Mudryk truly announced himself with a man of the match performance at the Bernabeu last November, earning a standing ovation from the notoriously difficult to please natives. Real Madrid, inevitably, have featured prominently in any discussions about where he might end up.
But Premier League teams are armed with the funds and wherewithal to pull off significant deals nowadays, and i understands overtures have made to both Shakhtar and the player’s representatives in recent months by a multitude of Premier League clubs. The player too sees a move to England as a “natural” next step, and has said he would be open to an approach from Arsenal.
The window of opportunity for a team without Champions League or Europa League football to try and sign him is going to be vanishingly slim. It’s why it might force the hand of Everton, Newcastle or Brentford to go big in January.
from Football | News and analysis from the Premier League and beyond | iNews https://ift.tt/QgxARwr
Post a Comment