Reports from Eastern Europe this evening (Friday) claim Liverpool have agreed a £25m deal with Shaktar Donetsk for midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
Russian newspaper Sport-Express report that an agreement has been reached and “the 18-time champions of England will make an official statement about the transaction in the next few days.”
They claim the deal is 30 million euros – £25.6m, and that the player will fly to Liverpool in a few days.
Update (9am Saturday): Another Eastern European journalist, Alexey Yaroshevsky, has stated that Liverpool will sign Mkhitaryan with 72 hours. He gets the information from the same source broke Fernandinho to Man City earlier.
Yes, Henrikh Mkhitaryan WILL be #LFC player within the next 72 hours, pending medical and official confirmation. Shakhtar source confirmed
— Alexey Yaroshevsky (@YaroLFC) June 29, 2013
He writes that he expects Shaktar to announce Mkhitaryan’s departure this weekend.
Update (noon): Sports.ru are also reporting that the deal has been agreed and will be completed within three days. They again say €30 million is the price.
Update (3pm): Now being reported by Futbol-TV that Mkhitaryan will become a player of Liverpool in the next 72 hours and fly to England on Sunday.
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A report yesterday quoted Russian pundit Aleksandr Bubnov saying “[Mkhitaryan] wants Liverpool.
“The problem lies in the fact that Mkhitaryan has become a hostage in the issue of his transfer to another club. He is unable to decide anything, with the clubs interested doing it for him.”
Meanwhile, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher told Norweigan TV2 this week “I think there will be another 3 or 4 more signings. Maybe a defender and the player from Shakhtar Donetsk.”
Back in England, The Daily Mail, though, claim Spurs have entered the race for the Armenian (their report is likely based upon Sky Italy reporting this last night).
Furthermore, The Independent claim Mkhitaryan “looks likely to join Borussia Dortmund”, completely contradicting all reports. Earlier this week it was reported that the German club had a £19.5m bid turned down, with Shaktar wanting £25m.
So, three completely contrasting reports; Liverpool deal, Spurs interested, going to Dortmund. Perhaps the most important part here is the source of each report, with journalist Artur Petrosyan the source for the Liverpool deal in Russian news and somebody who has been well informed throughout the transfer saga of late.
Kopblog writer Gerry returned to the blog yesterday, have a read here.
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