Shakhtar to donate £20m To Ukrainian soldiers following Mudryk deal to Chelsea

Shakhtar to donate £20m from £88m Mudryk deal

Chelsea will play a friendly against Shakhtar Donetsk in a ‘Ukrainian Donetsk’ as part of their £88 million deal to buy winger Mykhaylo Mudryk. The Blues will go to Ukraine at a later date to face Shakhtar as part of Rinat Akhmetov’s aspirations to assist rebuild Ukraine when their continuing conflict with Russia ends, with a £20 million payment from the club’s president going to Ukraine soldiers.

Mudryk was paraded in front of his new fans at Stamford Bridge after the Blues confirmed his deal before their 1-0 win against Crystal Palace on Sunday.

The Ukraine International was given a rapturous reception as he walked out onto the pitch and he did not miss the opportunity to make a public statement with the world watching, with a Ukraine flag draped over his shoulders.

Chelsea are expected to pay a total cost of £88 million, including add-ons, for winning the Premier League and Champions League over his eight-and-a-half-year contract. However, another term in the agreement added by Akhmetov will require the teams to play in an exhibition match in Ukraine and pay a significant fee to Ukraine’s fighters.

In a statement released on Shakhtar’s official website, Akhmetov thanked the world for their “tremendous support” of Ukraine, revealed his mixed feelings about Mudryk’s departure following the most expensive transfer in Ukrainian football – and revealed his ambition for the friendly to take place in Donetsk when it is under Ukrainian rule.

“First and foremost, I want to thank the entire civilised world for helping Ukraine. Today we are able to talk about Ukrainian football thanks to the Ukrainian army, the Ukrainian people, and the tremendous support of the entire civilised world. Only by joining efforts we will defeat the evil that has come to our homes,” he said.

“I have mixed feelings today. On the one hand, I am happy for Mykhaylo and proud of him. This guy is leading by example, showing that talent and hard work can make the impossible possible. I am absolutely confident that the entire Europe will acclaim Mykhaylo’s brilliant and fine play.

“On the other hand, I have never made it a secret that my dream is to win European trophies. This means that players like Mudryk should be invited to our club, to our Ukrainian championship, and we should win European trophies with such players, rather than root for them, even when they play in the world’s top clubs.

“Unfortunately, it is impossible now, as Ukraine is fighting the horrendous and unjust war waged against us by the Russian Federation. But I am confident that we will win. And we will play a friendly against Chelsea at Donbass Arena in a Ukrainian Donetsk.”

Akhmetov also expressed his intention to donate £20.5 million ($25 million) to current Ukrainian war operations as Shakhtar prepares to return to their embattled home after the war began in February 2022.

They left the Donbass Arena in 2014, shortly after the war began, and played in Lviv until 2016. They then traveled 600 miles west to Kharkiv before returning to Kyiv until 2020, but the threat looming over Ukrainian football has pushed clubs to relocate to Poland while the crisis continues.