Shakhtar Donetsk’s deputy sporting director Carlo Nicolini has revealed that Manchester City have joined Arsenal in the battle to sign Mykhaylo Mudryk.

The Ukrainian international has been turning heads with his performances in the Champions League this season and Nicolini has said City have “taken an interest” in the player:

“There are many English candidates, there is the Spanish on duty, the French on duty, but now it takes the right amount to take him away. Together with Mbappe, Leao and Vinicius, Mudryk is the strongest player in that position. Oscillating between Arsenal and Manchester City? They are two teams that have taken an interest in the player. But there are also other clubs that can spend right away.”

There were indications that Shakhtar would be willing to sell Mudryk for around €40m (£34m) in the January transfer window but Nicolini scoffed at those claims, suggesting that the player could be worth more than Manchester United’s Antony:

“Is €40m (£34m) enough to buy him? We do not speak to these figures. Not even for €50m (£43m), we don’t even call the president to communicate the offer. We value Mudryk more than Antony of Manchester United, who cost €100m (£86m). We are not obliged to sell, we do not want to make phenomena. We don’t want to shoot figures that aren’t realistic. But in this team, he is the most decisive. If you want to take on certain players who make a difference in the top clubs, you also need the right money.”

City will likely be in the market for a winger in the future, having lost the likes of Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus last summer, but it doesn’t seem likely that they would be prepared to pay a sizeable sum for a player, like Mudryk, who is relatively unproven.

A large proportion of transfer funds will probably be devoted to recruiting a central midfielder instead, with doubts remaining over the futures of Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva.