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Agent confirms Arsenal are in talks to sign 23-year-old international defender

By on January 22, 2020

According to reports via Football London, the agent of Mykola Matviyenko has claimed Arsenal are in talks with Shakhtar Donetsk over a deal to sign centre-back this month.

Calum Chambers has been ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a serious knee ligament injury earlier this month while Kostas Mavropanos has been sent out on loan to Nurnberg.

Shkodran Mustafi showed once again on Tuesday night that he should be nowhere near the Arsenal first team after making yet another basic error during the 2-2 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Mustafi has constantly been linked with a move away from the club and no doubt he’ll leave if we can find a buyer so Mikel Arteta desperately needs to strengthen our defence this month.

Arsenal have been linked with a short-term deal for Jerome Boateng but it looks like the club have a more long-term option in mind as Football London are citing reports coming out of Ukraine as saying we’re in talks to sign Matviyenko.

The report originates from Ukrainian outlet Komanda 1 as they carry quotes from Matviyenko’s agent, Yuriy Danchenko, that confirm Arsenal are in negotiations with Shakhtar Donetsk to land the centre-back this month.

Danchenko is quoted by Football London as saying:

“My colleagues and I have been constantly in contact with representatives of the Arsenal, and have meetings,”

“The Gunners’ hierarchy have already contacted [Shakhtar], and we hope that these negotiations will succeed.”

In the Komanda 1 report Danchenko is also quoted as saying:

We’ll see how things will develop further, but Arsenal wants to carry out the deal before February 1

The 23-year-old fuelled the rumours after liking an Instagram photo about his proposed move to Arsenal and another image of his agents quotes so it looks like there could be something in this.

Matviyenko – who has impressed for Shakhtar in the Champions League – has been linked with Manchester City recently and he’s already got 20 caps for the Ukrainian national team so he’d be an interesting signing if we pulled it off.

Obviously he isn’t a big, house-hold name so he shouldn’t cost the earth but Arsenal need to work smart in the transfer market and let’s not forget we splashed out decent money on William Saliba – who’ll arrive in the summer – so this could be a good piece of business.