Mykhailo Mudryk’s £88m Chelsea move includes £20.5m going to Ukraine’s soldiers to fight Russia

The stunning details behind Mykhailo Mudryk’s £88million move to Chelsea from Shakhtar Donetsk have been revealed by the Ukrainian club.

Mudryk – who had been tipped to join London rivals Arsenal – completed the huge move to Stamford Bridge on Sunday and was unveiled as an official Blue during their win over Crystal Palace. 

Following the move, Shakhtar president Rinat Akhmetov has now provided full details over the transfer and revealed that Graham Potter’s side play against Shakhtar in a friendly in a ‘Ukrainian Donetsk’ as part of the deal.

In an official statement on their website, Akhmetov wrote: ‘FC Shakhtar has signed a final agreement with Chelsea FC and thus Ukrainian footballer Mykhaylo Mudryk will continue his career with the Blues in the strongest national championship, the English Premier League.

‘First and foremost, I want to thank the entire civilised world for helping Ukraine. Today we are able to talk about Ukrainian football thanks to the Ukrainian army, the Ukrainian people, and the tremendous support of the entire civilised world. Only by joining efforts we will defeat the evil that has come to our homes.

‘I have never made it a secret that my dream is to win European trophies. This means that players like Mudryk should be invited to our club, to our Ukrainian championship, and we should win European trophies with such players, rather than root for them, even when they play in the world’s top clubs. 

‘Unfortunately, it is impossible now, as Ukraine is fighting the horrendous and unjust war waged against us by the Russian Federation. But I am confident that we will win. And we will play a friendly against Chelsea at Donbass Arena in a Ukrainian Donetsk.’

Due to the war in Donbass, Shakhtar have not played at the stadium since 2014. The stadium has remained unused and closed to the public since the club were forced to vacate it.

Akhmetov continued: ‘That is why I have made a decision to launch the Heart of Azovstal, a project designed to help Mariupol defenders and the families of fallen soldiers. Their acts of bravery are unparalleled in the modern history. 

‘I am allocating $25 million [£20.5m] today to help our soldiers, defenders, and their families. The money will be used to cover different needs — from providing medical and prosthetic treatment and psychological support to meeting specific requests. 

‘To ensure transparency, the project will have a professional independent team that will be in touch with the Azovstal defenders, their families, care providers, and volunteers.’

Mudryk was revealed at Stamford Bridge whilst holding a Ukrainian flag – less than a year after Roman Abramovich’s reign at the helm of the club came to an end following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.  

Following sanctions from the UK government, the following month Abramovich announced his intention to sell the club he had owned since 2003, leading to Todd Boehly’s and Clearelake Capital’s takeover and a stream of big-money signings since.

Mudryk was born in Krashnohrad, Ukraine, on January 5, 2001, and he was part of the youth set-up at Shakhtar Donetsk from 2016, making his first senior appearance for the club two years later. 

The 5ft 9in winger also had previous short-term loan spells at Arsenal Kyiv and Desna Chernihiv in 2019 and 2020 respectively. 

Mudryk becomes Chelsea’s fifth signing this January, joining David Datro Fofana, Joao Felix, Benoit Badiashile and Andrey Santos through the door.