Chelsea confirm enormous Mudryk contract after beating Arsenal to transfer

Chelsea have confirmed the signing of Mykhaylo Mudryk after the Blues hijacked Arsenal's proposed move for the Shakhtar Donetsk winger in a transfer worth around £87million.

The 22-year-old has penned a staggering eight-and-a-half year deal at Stamford Bridge and becomes Chelsea's third arrival of the January transfer window after Benoit Badiashile and Joao Felix joined from Monaco and Atletico Madrid. He is expected to wear the No.15 shirt.

In an extraordinary transfer saga, it seemed as though Mudryk was heading for north London after it was revealed the Gunners were close to agreeing a deal for the winger. Arsenal saw two bids of up to £62m rejected for the Ukrainian as Mikel Arteta tried to strengthen his attack with another young, talented attacker.

However, Chelsea have come under their noses to bring Mudryk to west London in what will be the Blues' second most expensive signing of all-time behind Romelu Lukaku's £97m move from Inter Milan in August 2021. The Blues have been busy in January so far after Badiashile made the big-money switch earlier in the month, before Felix joined on a six-month loan deal last Wednesday.

Now, Mudryk has become the Blues' third signing in a week and he was at Stamford Bridge for Chelsea's Premier League clash with Crystal Palace. The move was announced by Chelsea midway through the game as they released a statement to confirm that they had completed the deal.

Speaking after completing his move, Mudryk told Chelsea's official website: "I'm so happy to sign for Chelsea. This is a huge club, in a fantastic league and it is a very attractive project for me at this stage of my career. I'm excited to meet my new team-mates and I'm looking forward to working and learning under Graham Potter and his staff."

Todd Boehly, Chelsea chairman, and Behdad Eghbali, co-controlling owner, added: "We are delighted to welcome Mykhailo to Chelsea. He's a hugely exciting talent who we believe will be a terrific addition to our squad both now and in the years to come. He will add further depth to our attack and we know he'll get a very warm welcome to London."

Chelsea's statement ended by thanking Shakhtar for "enabling Mykhailo to take up this new opportunity", before welcoming the winger to Stamford Bridge.

He has scored eight goals and provided 10 assists in 18 appearances for Shakhtar so far this season. The talented wide-man also impressed in the Champions League and netted twice against Celtic.

There will be more to follow on this breaking sports news story - we'll be bringing you the very latest updates, pictures and video.

Please check back regularly for updates on this developing story HERE. Get email updates on the day's biggest stories straight to your inbox by signing up for our newsletters.

Get all the big headlines, pictures, analysis, opinion and video on the stories that matter to you by following The Mirror every time you see our name.

Follow The Mirror on Google News - CLICK HERE and click the star

Follow The Mirror on Apple News - CLICK HERE available on Apple devices

Follow The Mirror on Flipboard - CLICK HERE and click follow

Follow us on Twitter @MirrorFootball - the official Mirror football Twitter account - for all the latest football news as it happens in real time. For other sports news, follow us on @MirrorSport.

You can sign up for Twitter alerts for breaking news here @MirrorBreaking_ and follow us @DailyMirror, for all the latest updates.

Keep up-to-date with the latest football news by following us on Facebook at facebook.com/mirrorfootball and with sport news at facebook.com/mirrorsport

See all our social accounts you can follow here: mirror.co.uk/social