Quote Originally Posted by selassie View Post
Yeah I hear you IBK.

If it was to do with valuation and that we always knew we were not prepared to meet it, and that Shaktar were standing firm on their valuation, then we should have walked away weeks ago and made progress on alternative targets?

The reality of the situation is that we are a Saka or Martinelli injury away from our season collapsing, as we are with our options or lack of them in Central Midfield if Partey or dare I say even Xhaka breaks down.

If it's not Mudryk, then it needs to be someone else, we desperately need adding quality to the squad ASAP.

P.S. Been reading this morning we have gone back in for Raphinha, apparently Barca want rid.
I agree with you that there is a risk that our top performers will break down and derail our title push - and we have seen the drop off when our first 11 is not fit. But (and I know that you will appreciate this even if more impulsive posters on here do not), there is a risk in signing players also. Mudryk looks a good prospect but he has played only 33 top flight games. He is EPL unproven. Transfers always create excitement because of the unknown, and the ability to dream, but its easy to make assumptions that players will be instant successes, when the reality is almost always different. Before moving to Manchester United in September 2022, the more experienced Anthony (at £86 million - identified by Ten Hag as integral to his project) made 57 league appearances in total at Ajax, scoring 18 goals and providing 14 assists. He's been OK for Manure under a very good coach, but has scored 3 goals for Manure this season.

I make this comparison to try to balance the hype. Those lamenting the non-signing of Mudryk do so mainly due to the idea that he would almost have guaranteed our title push, when there is no such guarantee. He would have been more a player for the future, with the hope that he would fire this season if needed. Would this be worth £100M? I think not. I think Arsenal was right not to be forced to pay over their valuation - and the fact that the player chased the money suggests that there may have been a question mark over his committment to our project. Plus our team's current greatest strength is its group togetherness - you will potentially affect this by doing a Chelsea and paying over the odds for a player - whatever the circumstances. Remember that Saka, Martinelli, Saliba are yet to be tied down to new contracts.

As for walking away when Shakhtar stood firm. I'm afraid I have to disagree. While there was a prospect that we might sign a player who apparently wanted to come to us and whom Arteta had identified as wanting we were right to continue to try to secure this signing. I guarantee that the fact this was so public was down to the player's agent and his club, not Arsenal, and the alternative would have been to give up because Chelsea were likely to offer more which I don't agree with.

For me, what is key here is not Mudryk. It's getting in cover. And if we are looking for this to assist a title push I would be more comfortable with the likes of Raphina or Garcia who are EPL tested. We both agree that getting noone in would seem negligent. Failing to secure Mudryk or Felix isn't.