Chelsea board in Poland have made an £80million bid to join HIJACK for Mykhailo Mudryk from Arsenal

Chelsea have launched a bold bid to hijack Arsenal’s pursuit of Shakhtar Donetsk star Mykhailo Mudryk.

Mikel Arteta’s side have long led the hunt for the 22-year-old but Chelsea are reportedly ready to pull out all the stops to bring him to Stamford Bridge.

Graham Potter’s side are ready to make an offer of £80m – the same as Arsenal’s – to make the Ukraine international the second-most expensive signing in club history with eight caps.

Chelsea bosses have traveled to Poland to hijack Arsenal’s move for Mykhailo Mudryk

The Blues are ready to offer Shakhtar Donetsk £80m plus benefits to sign the 22-year-old

Crucially, however, Chelsea are prepared to offer add-ons that will bring the final total closer to Shakhtar’s £88m valuation of the player.

Blues bosses are currently meeting their Shakhtar counterparts in Poland in a bid to reach an oral agreement to secure the winger’s services.

Adding to the speculation, Mudryk’s Shakhtar team-mate Mykola Matviyenko liked an Instagram post of Fabrizio Romano’s account, which suggested his Ukraine international could move to west London.

Arsenal are still believed to be front runners in the race to sign Mudryk, with a third official offer for the player in a deal also worth £80million soon to be agreed.

Mykola Matviyenko liked an Instagram post detailing Chelsea’s move for his Shakhtar team-mate

But Arsenal are still seen as the player’s preferred destination and Mikel Arteta seems confident the move will happen

The Premier League leaders were also buoyed by news that the Emirates are reportedly Mudryk’s destination of choice.

Such is the excitement surrounding Mudryk’s signing that Gunners fans have taken to social media to analyze a recent press conference by Arteta, where they believed the Spaniard had given a subtle hint that the move was about to happen realization stood.

Following Monday night’s FA Cup win over Oxford United, Arteta reiterated his desire to bring in attacking reinforcements as summer signing Gabriel Jesus is still unavailable on international duty at the World Cup following an injury.

“The problem is that we only have one striker and it’s not easy to get through so many months until Gabby is back,” he said.

“But we have to get the best out of the players we have at the moment. If we can have some reinforcements, great.”