Chelsea have agreed a deal worth £85m with Shakhtar Donetsk for winger Mykhailo Mudryk.
It was learned that Mudryk was on his way to West London for a medical on Saturday.
It is thought Chelsea are confident of securing the transfer and have offered the 22-year-old a seven-and-a-half-year contract.
A statement from Shakhtar on Saturday night confirmed a deal was “very close”.
“FC Shakhtar president Rinat Akhmetov and Chelsea co-owner Behdad Eghbali discussed Mykhailo Mudryk’s transfer to Chelsea FC today.
“Parties are very close to agree on player’s transfer to the club,” the statement read.
Arsenal remained in talks as recently as Friday but were prepared to walk away from the transfer if the deal was not right.
In social media posts, Mudryk had previously indicated Premier League leaders Arsenal were his preferred destination, with personal terms not expected to have been a problem.
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He liked a parody Instagram post depicting him being held prisoner by Shakhtar Donetsk as they continued to hold out for bigger offers, and uploaded posts showing him watching Arsenal games and describing Mikel Arteta as a “top coach”.
According to Sky Sports, he is now set to join Graham Potter’s struggling Chelsea side who have managed just one win in their last five matches.
Chelsea owner, Todd Boehly, has already sanctioned moves for Benoit Badiashile, David Fofana, and Andrey Santos in the January window, while adding the loan signing of Joao Felix from Atletico Madrid.
At the start of last season, he was an unknown outside of Ukraine with a transfer value of under £1m.
Now he is one of the most coveted young players in Europe.
The 21-year-old winger, who showcased his thrilling speed and one-on-one ability in the Champions League group stage earlier this season, has been described by Shakhtar Donetsk’s director of football, Darijo Srna, as “the best player in Europe in his position” after Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior.
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