According to reports, Chelsea have agreed a British record deal worth £115m with Benfica for Enzo Fernandez.

This January, Fernandez was one of Chelsea’s top transfer priorities, but up until now, their attempts to recruit the World Cup champion have been unsuccessful.

After negotiations stopped earlier in the window, as reported last week that Benfica was expecting Chelsea to make a fresh offer. The Blues did indeed return to the bargaining table over the weekend.

Early on Monday, there was optimism that a deal was close to being finalized, with co-owner Behdad Eghbali and transfer director Paul Winstanley leading the effort. Both men were instrumental in luring Mykhailo Mudryk away from Shakhtar Donetsk.

And according to reports, an arrangement was reached after those discussions, with Chelsea promising to pay more than Fernandez’s £105 million release clause so that Benfica would take payment in instalments.

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Rui Costa merely needs to give his approval to the transfer after openly stating on numerous occasions that 22-year-old Fernandez wouldn’t leave Benfica unless it was on the conditions of the Portuguese powerhouses.

Once all payments have been made to Benfica, the transfer might end up costing Chelsea a British record-breaking £115 million, surpassing the £100 million Manchester City spent Aston Villa for Jack Grealish in the summer of 2021.

There is still time for the deal to be completed before the winter transfer window closes on Tuesday night, even if Fernandez skipped training with Benfica on Monday. Personal conditions had long been agreed upon with Fernandez.

Conor Gallagher and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are two players who could now be moved on by the club’s hierarchy amid a flurry of Premier League interest as a result of the breakthrough in negotiations.

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On his Chelsea debut, Mykhailo Mudryk set a new benchmark for Premier League pace merchants, becoming the fastest player in England so far this season.

The Ukrainian winger came in for the final 35 minutes of Saturday’s goalless draw with Liverpool and looked brilliant in his maiden appearance in English football.

According to Opta, the 22-year-old appeared to be incredibly fast, as he achieved a top speed of 22.76mph, beating Everton’s Anthony Gordon’s best speed of 22.74pmh.

Darwin Nunez (22.68mph), Manchester City’s Erling Haaland (22.50mph), and Chelsea midfielder Denis Zakaria round out the top five in Premier League pace this season (22.42).

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After being knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round by Manchester City, the Blues now have a week off before facing Fulham in the Premier League on the 3rd of February.

Following his £88 million transfer from Shakhtar Donetsk, Mudryk will aim to play a part right away in that match, although Chelsea manager Graham Potter acknowledges it may take him some time to adjust.

‘Mudryk hasn’t played since November so it would have been a risk to start him but he was very good coming on.

‘He’s only had two sessions with us and will get better the more he understands us and vice-versa. He can get supporters off their seats. His dribbling actions are high and knows where the goal is.

‘Our job is to help settling him into the country and the team. He and Joao Felix are top players. Coaches don’t magically turn them into good players, it’s just about helping them fine-tune.’

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Gabriel Martinelli has backed Arsenal’s move for Leandro Trossard, claiming that his new teammate would become a “very significant player” for the club.

After falling short of signing Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhailo Mudryk earlier this month, Arsenal moved fast to seal a £27 million deal with Brighton for Trossard.

The Belgian international, whose contract with Brighton expires in the summer, made his debut on Sunday when Arsenal defeated Manchester United 3-2. He took Martinelli’s place in the 82nd minute.

The addition of Trossard means that there will be more competition for spots in Arteta’s frontline, but Martinelli, who has seven goals in the Premier League so far this season, has praised the Gunners’ most recent signing.

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When asked about Arsenal’s decision to sign Trossard from Brighton, Martinelli told ESPN Brasil: ‘He’ll be a very important player for us. We know his quality.

‘He did very well at Brighton and will certainly help a lot. And we are trying to welcome him in the best possible way so that he can be calm and show his football.’

Arsenal’s win over the Red Devils means they are now five points clear of Manchester City, with Pep Guardiola’s side having played one match more.

Martinelli thinks his teammates are in the perfect frame of mind to finally win the trophy after a long time because Arsenal is currently the favourite to win their first Premier League title since 2004.

‘We have a winning mentality,’ Martinelli said. ‘We always go on the pitch to win and we have to keep doing that if we want to be champions.

‘It does not depend on age, but on the mentality and the desire to win every game.’

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Cesar Azpilicueta believes Mykhailo Mudryk will impress and become an important player at Chelsea after joining from Shakhtar Donetsk in January.

The Blues dethroned Arsenal in the pecking order by signing the Ukraine international, who made his debut in Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Liverpool at Anfield.

While neither Mudryk nor any other player on the field were able to break the standoff between the two struggling giants, his burst of speed and technique on the ball surprised Azpilicueta, who just achieved 500 appearances for Chelsea.

“I’ve seen a very focused lad with great determination, great ambition,” Azpilicueta said.

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“It was his first game since November so, for him, it was like pre-season, he played 35 minutes at Anfield so it’s not the easiest debut and I think he did brilliantly.

“He has a great connection with the fans as well. He’s a player who can have that mix between playing good football with his feet and also running into space. You could see his speed.

“He’s very confident. The price tag, I know from the outside it’s there but we players don’t make the prices, it’s a market and when you are in the market, you have competition to get players so I don’t think it has to lie on his shoulders.

“He just has to express himself the way he has been doing. It’s great to see his energy and he will be a very important player.”

Chelsea sit tenth in the Premier League and will not play again until early February, after being knocked out of the FA Cup.

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The CEO of Shakhtar Donetsk, Sergei Palkin, stated that Mykhailo Mudryk’s potential transfer to Arsenal before signing with Chelsea was only an “outside visual impression.”

The Gunners prioritized signing the winger during the January transfer window, but they were hesitant to meet Shakhtar’s asking price, which the Blues used against them.

Mudryk was announced as a Chelsea player on Sunday after a brief round of weekend negotiations, despite his very public preference to join Arsenal over the previous month, during which he frequently posted on social media about the Premier League leaders.

Speaking to The Athletic, Palkin revealed it was only on Saturday that he realised Mudryk would be heading to Stamford Bridge instead.

“I realised two days ago [Saturday] when Chelsea arrived here – the co-owner Behdad Eghbali and [director of global talent and transfers] Paul Winstanley. They came to Antalya in Turkey [where Shakhtar have been at a training camp],” he said.

“Before Chelsea arrived, I did not know they were close, because I communicated with Arsenal in the same way as I had with Chelsea. Even I can tell you more: I met Arsenal more times than Chelsea. Therefore, before this last meeting, Arsenal was close, or a little bit closer to this deal than Chelsea.

“If you don’t count telephone conversations, it was three times [he met with Arsenal].

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“From my point of view, [the social media posts] is why everybody talked about Arsenal. It is because Arsenal contacted the player almost one and a half months before they contacted us. Can you imagine, for example, to have Mikel Arteta, Oleksandr Zinchenko and the sporting director calling you, to have Arsenal calling you almost every day, every two days, every three days? You can want or not want the move but you follow this kind of reception and contacts.

“If you talk about Chelsea, they called me at the end of December and asked if they can contact Mudryk because they are interested in him and want to talk with him. I said, ‘No problem, you can contact him’. The first time they contacted him was around the end of December or the start of January. They contacted the player and the agent of the player and they met the financial conditions.

“Therefore, why did many people around it have the impression that Mudryk was going to Arsenal? It is because Arsenal contacted him and then Mudryk started to watch some games of Arsenal. But negotiations are negotiations. When you didn’t close everything, when you did not [close] the last dot, then you cannot finish the deal. Therefore it was just an outside visual impression that Mudryk is close to Arsenal.”

Palkin added that despite reports stating otherwise, Arsenal’s total package was the same figure as Chelsea’s, but the issue was over how the fee would be paid.

“Overall, [their transfer offers were] the same. Not approximately the same – it was the same figure. The fixed part, variable part, bonuses. But if you look inside the fixed part and bonuses, it was completely different,” he added.

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Jose Mourinho claims that Roma are unable to compete in the transfer market and appears to have taken a subtle shot at Chelsea’s ‘limitless’ spending.

Following Todd Boehly’s buying of the team in May, the Blues have committed to spending over £400 million on players. At the weekend, they outbid their neighbours Arsenal to sign Mykhailo Mudryk from Shakhtar Donetsk for a sum close to £90 million.

The first guaranteed payment for Mudryk’s transfer to Stamford Bridge is over £60 million, with performance-related add-ons and bonuses covering the remaining sum.

After succeeding Claudio Ranieri in 2004, Mourinho was one of the first coaches at Chelsea to enjoy the luxury of lavish spending.

During his first year in west London, Mourinho brought in players like Didier Drogba, Arjen Robben, Petr Cech, and Ricardo Carvalho, and the spending continued until his hurried departure in 2007.

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Mourinho, who is currently in charge of Serie A club Roma, joked that he must find other methods of bolstering his squad rather than simply spending money to solve an issue because he doesn’t have the same financial resources at his disposal.

“I worked at clubs with those sorts of practically limitless funds,” Mourinho said.

“There are more and more clubs nowadays who fit that profile, but it’s not our profile. We work, we give our all, we work with the characteristics we’ve got.

“We need to find a solution, we can’t just buy Mudryk for €100m!”

Mourinho’s Roma have been in decent form in Serie A this season, winning 10 of their 18 games played to date, but still only sit 7th in the table after strong starts from Napoli, Milan, Juventus, Inter, Lazio and Atalanta.

They also have a Europa League play-off tie with Red Bull Salzburg to look forward to, with a place in the last 16 at stake.

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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has addressed the club’s unsuccessful transfer of Mykhailo Mudryk for the first time.

For the past few weeks, the Gunners and Shakhtar Donetsk have been negotiating a transfer for the winger. Arsenal was hopeful of concluding a deal even if they were unwilling to accept a price tag that might exceed €100 million.

However, their plans were sidetracked when Chelsea stepped in and quickly confirmed Mudryk’s signing on Sunday afternoon by matching Shakhtar’s asking price on Saturday night.

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Speaking after Arsenal’s 2-0 win at Tottenham in the north London derby, Arteta was asked how he felt about the club’s top transfer target being snatched away from them.

“I am happy with the players we have,” Arteta said. “We always try to improve the squad. We have to be consistent with the targets we want. The club is the first one that is trying, but I think as well we have to have some discipline.

“We can get those players [that we already have] better so let’s focus on that. We had injuries which are not helpful but we go [again] tomorrow, we go day by day. The window is open and we try to improve the team. The club is willing, they have my support and we’ll try and do it together.”

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Mykhailo Mudryk’s £100 million transfer to Chelsea from Shakhtar Donetsk brings an end to one of the most highlighted transfer sagas of January.

Despite appearing almost destined to sign with Premier League rivals Arsenal early in the window, the Ukrainian has signed an eight-and-a-half-year contract at Stamford Bridge.

Early on, Arsenal had named Mudryk as their priority target for January. In order to close a deal as soon as possible, they were in talks with Shakhtar Donetsk as early as December.

Mudryk said outright that he would find it difficult to reject Arsenal because the deal plainly appealed to him as well.

“Arsenal are a very good team,” he explained. “A very good coach. I like the way they play. From my side, I can’t say no.”

Although there is much more to it than that, it appears that he has snubbed Arsenal.

• Main reason Mykhailo Mudryk choose Chelsea over Arsenal.

Depending on your perspective, the answer to that question might be either that Chelsea wanted him more or that Arsenal didn’t want him enough.

Even while Arsenal was able to make an early arrangement with Mudryk, they were never able to do so with Shakhtar.

Although the Gunners were prepared to make a sizable payment for Mudryk, the Ukrainian club objected to the deal’s format. Arsenal preferred less upfront content and more add-ons, whereas they preferred more up-front content and fewer achievement-based add-ons.

In terms of their transfer policy, which is currently far harsher than Chelsea’s, Arsenal were remaining steadfast. Although that’s admirable, it also provided an entry point for their London rivals.

Chelsea gave Mudryk much higher pay while also rapidly agreeing to Shakhtar’s terms of more guaranteed wages.

According to some reports, Chelsea offered Mudryk more than £100,000, whilst Arsenal reportedly wouldn’t pay him more than £50,000. It was a difficult package to compete with when you consider that it was offered in addition to the eight-and-a-half-year contract at Stamford Bridge.

Arsenal was then faced with the choice of adjusting their existing transfer and wage structures to accommodate Mudryk or walking away from the deal on the grounds that the numbers did not add up. By selecting the latter, they made it easy for Chelsea to capture their target.

However, Chelsea have completed the signing of Mykhaylo Mudryk from Shakhtar Donetsk, the Premier League club has announced.

The Ukraine international has signed an eight-and-a-half-year deal, with the Blues paying Shakhtar a reported £62million – possibly rising to £88m.

The 22-year-old was in attendance for Chelsea’s game against Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

“I’m so happy to sign for Chelsea,” Mudryk told the club’s website.

“This is a huge club, in a fantastic league and it is a very attractive project for me at this stage of my career. I’m excited to meet my new team-mates and I’m looking forward to working and learning under Graham Potter and his staff.”

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Arsenal has been urged by Mikel Arteta to not ‘waste’ the chance to bolster their team during the January transfer window.

The Gunners now lead the Premier League standings, eight points ahead of Manchester City with one game remaining. They have a strong opportunity to win the league for the first time in nearly 20 years this season.

In light of this, the Gunners are reportedly eager to make a January signing. According to reports, Arsenal has made a second offer of €70 million to Shakhtar Donetsk for Ukrainian winger Mykhaylo Mudryk.

Speaking to Football.London after their 0-0 draw with Newcastle United on Tuesday evening, Arteta insisted that the club are trying to improve the squad this winter:

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“We are really trying to improve the squad in every window. We’re trying to do our best because we cannot waste any windows still with the squad and the numbers that we have. We will try.”

During his post-match interview with Sky Sports, Arteta also discussed the draw with Newcastle and the ‘scandalous’ refereeing which saw the Gunners not be awarded two penalties:

“Extremely proud of my players. The way we played, the way we dominated the game, the way we tried, the way we continued, the way we controlled the game.

“We missed in the final third. We had so many situations to finish better, and then we had two scandalous penalties. They are two penalties, it’s very simple. I’m talking about what I’ve seen, now, and it’s two scandalous penalties.”

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Real Madrid manager, Carlo Ancelotti, has released his team’s squad to face Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday night.

To take on Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League match-day four contest at the Municipal Stadium of Legia Warsaw, Ancelotti selected a 23-man squad.

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The former Everton and Bayern Munich manager released the squad in a post via Real Madrid’s official website.

Real Madrid’s squad against Shakhtar Donetsk:

Goalkeepers: Lunin, Luis López and Cañizares.

Defenders: Carvajal, Militão, Alaba, Vallejo, Nacho, Odriozola, Rüdiger and F. Mendy.

Midfielders: Kroos, Modrić, Camavinga, Valverde, Lucas V., and Tchouameni.

Forwards: Hazard, Benzema, Asensio, Vini Jr., Rodrygo, and Mariano.

The kick-off time for the match is 8 pm, Nigeria time.

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