Kepa reveals when Chelsea players knew Arsenal had been beaten to Mykhailo Mudryk signing
By Adam Newson, Chief Chelsea correspondent - 12:00, 16 JAN 2023
Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga has revealed he and his teammates were not aware a deal for Mykhailo Mudryk had been completed until half-time of their Premier League victory over Crystal Palace.
It was on Saturday morning that Chelsea co-owner Behdad Eghbali and director of global talent and transfers Paul Winstanley flew to Turkey to secure the 22-year-old's signing from Shakhtar Donetsk. An initial fee of £62million was agreed between the clubs with a further £27million to be paid in add-ons.
Mudryk arrived in the United Kingdom late on Saturday and underwent his medical the following morning. He arrived at Stamford Bridge ahead of Chelsea's game against Palace and was pictured in the directors' box. However, it wasn't until midway through the opening period the match that the Ukraine international's move was confirmed.
"It was a different way to announce it," joked Kepa after Chelsea's 1-0 victory over the Eagles. "It felt a bit like 'is it happening or isn’t it happening?' But then we saw him arrive at half time because we were in the changing room. We are happy to have him at the club and maybe we can meet each other tomorrow.
"He is a big player who comes here to help and all the best to him. We hope they can all help our season everyone wants that. We have the Champions League coming in February. It is in our head that we are not in the cups so it is about Premier League and Champions League. We have to go step-by-step, improve and make our team stronger to fight for everything."
Chelsea's victory over Palace – courtesy of a Kai Havertz header – was just their second in 10 Premier League matches. There is still much work for Graham Potter's side to do in the weeks ahead if they are to move up the table but Kepa believes a much-needed confidence boost has been gained.
"I think it is a very important win for us," he said. "The last couple of games were not good. We are in a position that we don’t want to be in. We are 10th in the league, we want to go higher, improve, and we are working a lot. Sometimes, for different reasons, things are not going in the best way. I hope this win will help us to improve, stay together and go higher.
"We are all on the same page. Everyone is trying their best but sometimes things like the small details make things go in the other direction. At the moment, what we have to do is work, stay together in the same direction, and improve. We have a lot of injuries so we are always adjusting in every game. We need to try to push.
"Today it was a very hard win. We suffered a lot in the last 15 minutes. They put a lot of balls into the box and it was hard to defend it. It is good to see the people happy in the changing room, it will help their confidence. Hopefully, this is the start."
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