Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta must avoid copying Manchester United’s £52million transfer mistake by pursuing a deal for Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhaylo Mudryk in January. The Gunners are on the verge of entering the World Cup break as Premier League leaders and must do anything to prevent disrupting their momentum further.
Arteta has guided his side to uncharted territory as far as mid-November has gone in recent seasons, propelling themselves from top-four hopefuls to earning results at the rate of title challengers. Thirteen games into the 2022/23 campaign, Arsenal lead reigning champions Manchester City by two points at the summit, winning 11 and losing just once.
But it’s impossible to predict how clubs will come out of the one-month-long banana skin that is the World Cup break, which will begin on Monday after the final round of Premier League fixtures this weekend. And there is scepticism about whether Arsenal will look the same after Christmas.
One step Arteta can take to ensure a slump doesn’t unfold in the second part of the campaign is to avoid any January activity that risks harming the harmony of his on-tune squad. Splashing £52m on Mudryk, as exciting a prospect as he is, would be doing exactly that.
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Reports claim Arsenal have already submitted the big-money offer to Shakhtar ahead of the January transfer window. Arteta wants to bolster his attacking ranks and beat the competition for the 21-year-old, who has registered eight goals and seven assists in 15 games in the Ukrainian top-flight and Champions League this season.
Early indications may suggest Mudryk would end up being better value for money than Fred – who has largely failed to live up to the billing after United signed him in a £52m deal in 2018. However, Arsenal must delay their pursuit until the summer and keep their current first-choice front three intact.
Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus firmly make up Arteta’s go-to attacking regiment, with club captain Martin Odegaard at the core. Adding Mudryk to that, especially at that price, would pressure the Spanish coach to chuck him into the fray. But who is dropping out?
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Martinelli is in the form of his life, and his stock will only rise if he enjoys a positive World Cup with Brazil. Meanwhile, Saka is Arsenal’s undroppable future, and Arteta himself has publicly pushed the 21-year-old to make himself available in every single game.
The Gunners are in an incredible position, but it’s a position that is fragile, with Pep Guardiola’s all-stars breathing down their necks in anticipation of a ‘vintage’ slip-up. Arteta keeping his preferred XI as it is rather than adding a new face to the fold mid-season gives them the best shot of maintaining it.
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