EXCLUSIVE
Shakhtar Donetsk would not have sold Mykhailo Mudryk to Chelsea if Russian Roman Abramovich was still owner, reveals CEO who says transfer was ‘symbolic deal’ between England, United States and Ukraine
Shakhtar Donetsk’s CEO has told talkSPORT Mykhailo Mudryk’s transfer to Chelsea would not have happened had Roman Abramovich still owned the Premier League club.
Ukrainian winger Mudryk signed for the Blues in a deal worth around £88million, but Shakhtar would not have even entertained holding talks with Chelsea if they were still owned by the Russian oligarch.
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Chelsea beat London rivals Arsenal with a late swoop for Mudryk, who appeared set to move to the Emirates Stadium before the Blues hijacked the deal.
Shakhtar chief Sergei Palkin revealed to talkSPORT that both English clubs offered the same transfer fee for the 22-year-old, but Arsenal’s tapping up of the player worked against them in the final negotiations.
He has since been unveiled as Chelsea’s new No.15, with high hopes he will be a big success in west London.
But eight months ago, before American billionaire Todd Boehly completed his takeover from Abramovic, the deal would have been impossible due to Russia’s invasion and ongoing war with Ukraine.
And Palkin says Mudryk’s transfer is a ‘symbolic deal’ that represents the unity between the United Kingdom, the United States and Ukraine since the war began last year.
“Yes, it’s very symbolic,” he explained.
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“I can tell you more - if, for example, the club was still run by Roman Abramovich, I‘m not sure we could even negotiate and close this deal.”
Shakhtar chose to do business with Chelsea after spending a full day in talks, where it appears there was more discussed than just Mudryk’s transfer.
Palkin confirmed reports the two clubs are due to play each other in two friendlies to raise money to support Ukrainian refugees and the families of the fallen from their war with Russia, with the Blues set to play host in London before a return visit to the Donbass Arena in Donetsk, when the time is right.
Although the club chief was keen to point out this agreement was not part of the deal that took Mudryk to the Premier League.
He explained: “It’s our No.1 dream to play this friendly match in Donbass Arena, but in the next year and half we will play a friendly match in London because Chelsea invited us to play there and all money generated Chelsea will send to support our refugees, to support our people in Ukraine.
“I don’t want to say that’s it’s part of the deal, because when Chelsea arrived here we stayed with them almost the whole day and discussed a load, and it was our common idea.
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“The owner of Chelsea also supported this idea and he likes it very much, because in our collaboration it looks like we have some sort of triangle.
“He is a guy from USA and he is the owner of an English club and we are from Ukraine, and we have this transfer of Muryk, it’s like a triangle - USA and England support us a lot in our war and we thank them so much for their support.
“This deal is like a symbolic deal for us. We arrived at this idea to have a friendly match in London, it might be in August, we will see when we can have this match.”
Following Mudryk’s move, Shakhtar also announced they would make a £20m donation to Ukraine’s war effort.
It has been reported that money would be taken directly from Chelsea’s transfer fee, with the formerly Russian-owned club directly aiding Ukraine in their efforts to prevent an invasion - a beautiful kind of irony.
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But Palkin insisted that was not the case, and that the club’s president would be paying that donation out of his own money, having proposed the idea before Mudryk’s move was even on the cards.
“I can tell you that actually when the president announced he will donate this money, I would like to emphasise that he will donate HIS OWN money,” he added.
“Actually, there is no direct connection between this deal and the donation of this money.
“The president has in his mind he wanted to create this kind of fund and we decided to announced after the deal with Mudryk, and I think it was a good idea to announce it the next day.”
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