Mudryk confronts Arsenal fan after "London is red" jibe on international duty

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Chelsea winger Mykhaylo Mudryk (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Chelsea winger Mykhaylo Mudryk (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Chelsea star Mykhaylo Mudryk hit back at an Arsenal fan who told him "London is red" moments after asking the player for a selfie.

Mudryk joined Chelsea from Shakhtar Donetsk for around £87million in January, signing an eight-and-a-half-year contract with the Blues after they beat Arsenal to his signature. The winger has struggled to make an immediate impact at Stamford Bridge, finally netting his first goal for the club earlier this month in a 2-0 win over Fulham.

Mudryk is currently away on international duty with Ukraine, preparing for their Euro 2024 qualifiers against North Macedonia and Malta. And a clip has gone viral on social media of a fan attempting to troll the 22-year-old after taking a picture with him.

In the clip, the fan takes a selfie with Mudryk and then says "London is red" as the player goes to get on the team coach. However, Mudryk stops and responds: "Why are you asking for a photo then?"

Although a move to Arsenal may not have materialised for the forward, the Gunners were very keen on signing Mudryk with Shakhtar's CEO Sergei Palkin revealing they were in contact with the player "almost every day". Palkin told the Athletic : "Arsenal contacted the player almost one and a half months before they contacted us.

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"Can you imagine, for example, to have Mikel Arteta, Oleksandr Zinchenko and the sporting director (Edu) calling you, to have Arsenal calling you almost every day, every two days, every three days? You can want or not want the move but you follow this kind of reception and contacts.

"If you talk about Chelsea, they called me at the end of December and asked if they can contact Mudryk because they are interested in him and want to talk with him. I said, 'No problem, you can contact him'.

"Overall, it was the same. Not approximately the same — it was the same figure. The fixed part, variable part, bonuses. But if you look inside the fixed part and bonuses, it was completely different. Therefore, in this case, Chelsea was much more serious and fair in some points."

Chelsea are set to face Arsenal when they return to action after the international break and Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino is looking forward to the contest. "Well I think we're going to play against a very good team, a team that in the last few years they are building a very good squad," he told club media.

"They have a very good coach, I know Mikel [Arteta] very well, he's a very good friend. They are doing a fantastic job and it's a team that is ready now to compete for big things, that is why the challenge is really exciting to compete with them. We are in a different process, in a different time, but I think it's important to see how our players are going to compete against a team that is more mature."

Matthew Cooper

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