Transfer sagas look simple from the outside. A player likes one club, another club pays more, and years later somebody who sat in the room explains how the last 48 hours actually went.
Those explanations tend to arrive long after the photos have been taken. By then the fee is fixed in the memory and the preference of the footballer is treated as a footnote.
January windows are especially blunt. Clubs decide whether they will match a bid, and the selling side rarely waits for sentiment to catch up with the numbers.
Shakhtar Donetsk director of football Darijo Srna has now said Mykhailo Mudryk preferred Arsenal to Chelsea before his move in January 2023. The Gunners and the Blues both chased the Ukraine winger that month.
Chelsea won when they agreed a package that could rise to £88million, including about £26million in performance-related add-ons. Srna handled talks with Chelsea while general director Serhiy Palkin dealt with Arsenal.
“Misha talked to Arteta. I talked to the Chelsea coach. And, probably, at that moment he liked Arteta more,” Srna said.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE NOW.ARSENAL WHATSAPP GROUP CHAT TO KEEP UP TO DATE WITH ALL THE LATEST NEWS!
That matches what was visible at the time. Mudryk had spoken warmly about Arsenal and Mikel Arteta and posted in a way that made north London look like the destination.
Srna said the club still had the final word. “But it is the club that decides whether to sell a player or not. We told him that the club has found a common language with Chelsea.
“And then you decide for yourself: do you want to move or not? Either you go to Chelsea, or Arsenal offers the same conditions, or you stay at Shakhtar.”
On the money, he was blunt. “Chelsea generally made a much better offer to Shakhtar than Arsenal. We can discuss it, but we cannot accept a worse offer than the one we have.”
Arsenal chose not to match it. Arteta later spoke about discipline and staying consistent with what the club could do at that moment.
Mudryk went to Stamford Bridge instead. He made 73 appearances for Chelsea before a long absence, had anti-doping proceedings resolved in the summer of 2026 and joined Tottenham on loan on deadline day.
The new comments do not rewrite the fee. They only confirm what many suspected in 2023: the player leaned towards Arteta, and Shakhtar leaned towards Chelsea’s offer.
For Arsenal it is an old sliding-doors story with a clear ending. They liked the winger, they would not pay what Shakhtar wanted, and the club that did pay got the deal.
In the end the Gunners signed Leandro Trossard who became a Premier League champion.