Arsenal midfield target deemed good enough for Manchester City has £128m release clause

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Arsenal have been linked with Georgiy Sudakov in recent months, but the Gunners now face having to pay a huge fee should they wish to sign him.

Back in October, Arsenal were deemed the Premier League frontrunners for the Shakhtar Donetsk and Ukraine midfielder, as per TEAMtalk.

Calciomercato previously reported that the Ukrainian giants value the 21-year-old playmaker at €25-30million (£21.5-26million).

However, Sudakov has gone from strength to strength and, as such, is now set to command a much higher fee.

Fabrizio Romano has taken to X with an update on the reported Gunners target, saying he will have a €150million (£128million) release clause in summer.

The transfer insider also reported that Shakhtar turned down proposals in the region of £30-34million in the January transfer window.

Arsenal face huge outlay to sign Georgi Sudakov

It’ll be interesting to see whether Arsenal will retain their interest in Sudakov amid this huge rise in valuation.

The Gunners obviously spent huge money to sign Declan Rice, but he joined as an established Premier League superstar and regular England international.

As per Romano’s report, Arsenal would have to pay significantly more for a player who is a great prospect but has no Premier League experience.

Admittedly, Sudakov has gone from strength to strength, and is now one of Europe’s most highly sought after young talents.

“Sudakov has enormous potential,” former Shakhtar boss Fernando Valente said in 2022, as per AS. “He could play for Barcelona or Manchester City.

“He’s the best talent I’ve trained and I had one of the strongest connections I’ve had with him.”

And in 2021, Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout likened Sudakov’s style of play to that of Manchester United and Denmark ace Christian Eriksen.

Let’s see what happens in the coming months. Arsenal certainly have what it takes to attract Sudakov to the Emirates Stadium, but at that price, would they want to?