Shakhtar Donetsk will demand £30m from Arsenal for centre-back Mykola Matviyenko, according to reports in the English media.
The 23-year-old’s agent confirmed that the Gunners have been in contact about signing the defender before the transfer window closes. Head coach Mikel Arteta is reportedly a fan of the Ukrainian after watching him play against Manchester City twice in the Champions League group stages.
Fans on Twitter, though, remain unconvinced that Matviyenko is worth the price tag:
Can we just give them Mustafi
— Denzin ?? (@Denzinoh) 23 January 2020
NO thank you
— Öscar Ronald (@O_the1) 23 January 2020
This guy is nowhere near worth £30mil.. Ridiculous getting out of hand these transfer & wage fees for bang average players
— Ryanafc85 (@RY2Sweet) 23 January 2020
18 months in his contract left and £30?! But if we get this guy could be a serious buy no joke
— BEИ (@benyvmin) 23 January 2020
Here we go again – for god sake go and buy a world class defender !!!!!!
— Adam Griffin @ Walltec Ltd (@WalltecLtd) 23 January 2020
Let dem keep him
— Oritsefemmykoolkat (@phemmy85philps) 23 January 2020
Nah overpriced guy like 5 10 left back that plays cb dunno why we don’t go for Mohammed Salisu good young cb good on the ball only worth 12 mill ??♂️
— AKHG (@akhgooner) 23 January 2020
They won’t be getting 30mill from us. FACT
— DRAKEY (@drakey68) 23 January 2020
Give them mustafi plus 10m
— Susan (@Suzzy677) 23 January 2020
Wtf… He's only had 1 year left in his contract!
— Agent Reliable (@Agent_Reliable) 23 January 2020
Matviyenko has just eighteen months remaining on his contract at Shakhtar which makes the asking price pretty steep, and considering the Gunners are reportedly only after loan deals this January, a move for the Ukrainian international does look unlikely at this stage.
The Gunners would probably have to offload someone in order to finance a move for Matviyenko but the supporters who are suggesting that a club could sell Shkodran Mustafi are being pretty optimistic.
