17 January 2023 , 16:21
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Chelsea have to play Shakhtar Donetsk in a friendly at Donbass Arena as part of the Blues' £87million deal to sign Mykhaylo Mudryk.
The west Londoners announced the arrival of the Ukrainian winger midway through the first half of their 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon. Mudryk, 22, penned a staggering eight-and-a-half year deal at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea completed their fifth signing of the January transfer window.
Mudryk followed Benoit Badiashile, David Datro Fofana, Andrey Santos and Joao Felix to the Blues as Todd Boehly's spending spree continued with another huge addition. After beating Arsenal to his signature, it has since been revealed that Mudryk's Chelsea contract has got a special clause attached to it.
During negotiations, Chelsea co-owner Behdad Eghbali proposed a friendly between the Blues and Shakhtar in Donetsk. The Ukrainian club's CEO, Serhii Palkin, has confirmed that the proposal is not only verbal but is also written into Mudryk's contract, so the two teams will face off in a friendly in the not-so-distant future.
"Yes, it is written into the contract," Palkin told The Athletic of the friendly. "But actually, we did not even need to read it in the contract because Behdad spoke with our president. Behdad supports Ukraine a lot because he is American and it is an English club, so for us this is a positive triangle because when you say England and Ukraine, it is important for our war support at this moment. They spoke very well and shook hands.
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Donbass Arena hasn't hosted a game for almost 10 years (Getty Images)"I know because I translated. I liked the conversation very much and I believe that it does not matter if it is in the contract or not. It was Behdad who proposed [the friendly] because he said he wanted to help Ukraine, to help Ukrainian refugees and to support Ukrainian people. For us, this match [in Donetsk] would be like a miracle. We would have this match every weekend if we could."
Shakhtar president Rinat Akhmetov first mentioned the proposed friendly in a statement on the club's website. Shakhtar haven't played a game at Donbass Arena since 2014, when they defeated Illichivets Mariupol 3-1 to secure their fifth straight league title, but barely 18,000 turned up. Conflict soon broke out between Ukrainian soldiers and Russian-backed forces while, since early 2022, war has raged in the country following Vladimir Putin's invasion.
"I am confident that we will win [the war against Russia ]. And we will play a friendly against Chelsea at Donbass Arena in a Ukrainian Donetsk. We have to do everything we can to bring this day closer," Akhmetov said.
The stadium has remained unused and closed to the public since Shakhtar were forced to abandon it. However, despite the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the stadium is slowly being repaired.