Arsenal are confident of securing a deal to bring Mykhailo Mudryk to the Premier League in the January transfer window.
What's the latest?
That's according to Fabrizio Romano, with the transfer insider revealing in a recent interview with GIVEMESPORT that, despite recent reports claiming that Shakhtar Donetsk are yet to respond to Arsenal's latest £62m bid for the 22-year-old winger, Mikel Arteta and Edu are optimistic of getting a deal over the line for the Ukraine international this month.
Regarding the club's pursuit of the forward, the Italian journalist said: "We can confirm that Arsenal are confident and optimistic. They feel they can sign the player before the end of the window, but at the moment, it is not close to being completed yet."
"Unreal"
Considering the generational talent Mudryk very much appears to be, it is not difficult to understand why both Arteta and Edu would be interested in a deal to bring the attacker to The Emirates this winter, as the 22-year-old would undoubtedly make an unreal addition to the Spanish manager's current wide attacking options in north London.
Indeed, after scoring two goals and registering seven assists over just 11 Premier Liga fixtures last season, the £35m-rated talent has once again been in breathtaking form over his 12 league appearances this term, having already bagged seven goals and provided a further six assists - averaging a direct goal involvement every 70 minutes of domestic football played in 2022/23.
However, it was undoubtedly his performances over his six Champions League outings this season that most caught the eye, with the winger scoring three goals - outperforming his xG of 1.11 - registering two assists and creating one big chance, in addition to taking an average of 1.5 shots - one of which hit the target - making 0.8 key passes and completing 1.7 dribbles per game.
To put these metrics into context, based solely on his 516 minutes played in the Champions League in 2022/23, FBref currently rank Mudryk in the top 1% of midfielders in Europe's big five leagues for non-penalty goals per 90, as well as the top 2% for assists, the top 3% for dribbles completed, the top 7% for touches in the opposition penalty area and the top 16% for shots.
Rather understandably, these returns have seen the eight-cap international earn a considerable amount of praise from the press, with Jack Collins dubbing the forward an "absolutely unreal" talent and Josh Bunting labelling the Ukrainian a "frightening" player, while Shakhtar's director of football, Darijo Srna, also said of the winger in an interview with Marca last year:
"Mudryk is better than all the Brazilians we have had so far. It's not demagogy. I've been playing football all my life and I would dare to say that he is the best player in Europe in his position behind [Kylian] Mbappe, Neymar and Vinicius [Jr]. If he had a Brazilian passport he would be worth €100m (£88.5m). If someone wants him, they will have to pay a lot of money."
As such, should Edu indeed manage to get a deal for the 22-year-old - who has reportedly been offered a €7.5m (£6.6m) salary at The Emirates, roughly £127k-per-week - over the line this winter, it would indeed appear as if the Brazilian would have sealed an absolutely unreal signing for the Gunners - as based on his numbers so far, Mudryk is very much a once in a generation level talent.