Chelsea’s board ‘in Poland making an £80MILLION bid to HIJACK Arsenal’s move for Mykhailo Mudryk

Chelsea have launched an audacious bid to hijack Arsenal’s pursuit of Shakhtar Donetsk star Mykhailo Mudryk.

Mikel Arteta’s side have long led the chase for the 22-year-old but Chelsea are reportedly prepared to pull out all the stops to bring him to Stamford Bridge.

According to a tweet from Fabrizio Romano, Graham Potter’s side are prepared to table a bid of £80million to make the 8-cap Ukraine international the second most expensive signing in the club’s history.

The Blues are reportedly prepared to offer Shakhtar Donetsk £80m to sign the 22-year-old

The report also claims that Blues chiefs are currently in Poland, meeting with their counterparts from Shakhtar in an attempt to reach a verbal agreement to secure the winger’s services.

To add to the speculation, Mudryk’s Shakhtar teammate Mykola Matviyenko liked a Instagram post of Romano’s report indicating his fellow Ukraine international could be West London bound.

Arsenal are still believed to be the frontrunners in the race to sign Mudryk, with a third official bid for the player in a deal also worth £80m close to being agreed.

Mykola Matviyenko liked an Instagram post detailing Chelsea’s move for his Shakhtar teammate

But Arsenal are still believed to the player’s preferred destination, with Mikel Arteta seemingly confident the move will go ahead 

The Premier League leaders have also been buoyed by the news that the Emirates is reportedly Mudryk’s preferred destination. 

Such is the excitement around signing Mudryk, Gunners fans have taken to social media to analyse a recent press conference from Arteta where they believed the Spaniard had dropped a subtle hint that the move was close to coming to fruition.

Speaking after Monday night’s FA Cup victory over Oxford United, Arteta reaffirmed their desire to bring in attacking reinforcements with summer signing Gabriel Jesus still unavailable after suffering an injury on international duty at the World Cup.

‘The problem is that we have only one striker and to cope for that many months until Gabby is back is not easy,’ he said.

‘But we have to get the most out of the players that we have at the moment. If we can have some reinforcements, great.’