Sports

Arsenal Draw Up Five-man Shortlist After Mudryk Blow

Reports in the English media on Tuesday indicate that Arsenal has reportedly compiled a five-man wishlist after Premier League rivals Chelsea hijacked their stunning move for Mykhailo Mudryk from Shakhtar Donetsk in an £89 Million deal.

Mudryk was heavily tipped to move to Arsenal and on several occasions gave glimpses of his intention to sign for the Premier League leaders.

The Blues beat Arsenal in the race to sign him by tabling an offer of £89m to Shakhtar, with the winger signing a whopping eight-and-a-half-year deal.

Mudryk’s transfer to Stamford Bridge was a huge blow for Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, who is keen to secure another forward option for the remainder of the season.

The players mentioned in the English media on Tuesday include: Moussa Diaby, Raphinha, Ferran Torres, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Leandro Trossard.

Arsenal and Chelsea were keen on Raphinha last summer but the Brazilian opted to sign for Barcelona leaving egg on the faces of the London rivals.

Torres is said to be another target for Mikel Arteta and Sporting Director, Edu, who has not lived up to his £55.2m move from Manchester City.

Barcelona is keen to offload surplus players from the club in a bid to free up wages and sign new players amid the Spanish club’s well-known financial struggles and could be open to selling one of the forwards should a tangible offer come in.

Napoli’s Georgian forward, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is another option for the north London giants albeit the Serie A leaders might play hardball and slap a huge transfer fee in excess of £100m for the player whose contract expires in 2027.

Eddie Nketiah is the only senior striker at Arsenal while Gabriel Martinelli was their only left winger before Emile Smith Rowe’s return from groin surgery earlier this month.

Brighton winger Leandro Trossard is believed to be another potential target for the Gunners after expressing his desire to leave the Premier League club.

Trossard’s Brighton teammate Kaoru Mitoma has attracted interest from Arsenal as well, but the Gunners face a tougher test in prying him away from the Seagulls.

Izuchukwu Okosi

Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc. In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio. He worked there for 13 years until October 2017. Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch. He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations. Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line. Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.