Newcastle United were linked with signing Mykhailo Mudryk during the January transfer window, but a new report claims that they were actually looking at him at the start of the season as well.
The 22-year-old has just completed a move to the Premier League, joining Chelsea for £88.5million.
Mudryk looked certain to be signing for Arsenal, but Graham Potter’s side hijacked the deal over the weekend to bring one of Europe’s most exciting talents to Stamford Bridge.
Shakhtar Donetsk chief executive Sergei Palkin has spoke about the deal, and admitted that Chelsea and Arsenal were the only two clubs that made a serious attempt to sign the Ukrainian winger in January. Newcastle were seemingly not in the mix, despite a previous report stating that Dan Ashworth was considering a £50million approach.
He was clearly too expensive for Newcastle this month, with Toon officials doing their best to comply with financial fair play.
An £88.5million move to St James’ Park would have been a real shock, but it is a shame to see Eddie Howe’s side miss out on such an exciting talent.
Now a new report from the Athletic states that this isn’t the first transfer window that we have tried and failed to sign Mudryk.
Newcastle wanted Mykhailo Mudryk last summer
According to the Athletic, Newcastle showed significant interest in signing Mudryk towards the end of last summer’s transfer window. Everton did the same, while Brentford thought they were going to sign him for £30million.
In the end, Shakhtar held on to their prized possession and sold him for an even bigger fee just months later.
This is the first time that interest from Newcastle in the summer has been reported. His name was first mentioned as a target for the Magpies in September by reporter Ben Jacobs.
However, it appears that Ashworth already had his eyes on Mudryk and tried to get him in the summer. That is what he has been brought in as Sporting Director to do – identify young talents before they really burst onto the scene and sign them for a lesser fee.
It is something Ashworth did brilliantly at Brighton, with Moises Caicedo an excellent example. He will look to do the same with Newcastle, with the Toon owners obviously unwilling to spend crazy amounts of money on new recruits each year.
At £88.5million, Mudryk, who has been described as ‘more dynamic than Grealish‘, was never attainable for Newcastle. And even if he was, that is a crazy amount of money. The Magpies are looking for value in the transfer market, which is often difficult to find.
They would have got that if they had managed to sign Mudryk during the summer. He has proven over the past few months that he has the potential to become a real star – he could have been achieving that potential in a black and white shirt.
But Newcastle missed out, and Mudryk is now one of the Premier League’s most expensive players ever.