A fun playmaker linked to Liverpool and Spurs

A lot of times when we do these transfer rumour roundups, we’re sifting through a lot of stuff that sounds completely made up, or is clearly a case of agents trying to drum up interest in their client. And hey, that might be the case with the rumour we’re leading off today with as well, but at least this one makes a lot of sense.

22-year-old midfielder Georgiy Sudakov has been a consistently solid performer for Shakhtar Donetsk for 3 seasons now, and he appears to have taken a significant step forward this campaign. His agent recently said: "Shakhtar and the player are open to offers. And that means there is a high probability that we will soon be able to see Georgiy in the top leagues."

Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool are the two clubs the English papers have decided are ready to make a bid. If you support one of those teams, you definitely just had the thought “is he a defensive midfielder?” And sorry, he is not. But he is a good passer!

It was difficult to evaluate players based on Ukrainian league performance prior to 2022, and the geopolitical situation since then has only made it more difficult. But Sudakov is putting up even better Champions League passing numbers than domestic ones, and might be convincing clubs from the big leagues that his game will translate at a higher level of competition.

Sudakov is a type of player that I really enjoy watching. He’s a right-footed central midfielder who usually plays on the left side of a 4-3-3 and likes to dribble wide, then cut back into the left half-space. Based on how the defense reacts, he can play a big switch to the left wing, a back post diagonal, or a through ball to a runner. He’s proven adept at playing all 3 of those passes frequently.

I think Sudakov is a good enough player to develop into a big contributor for Spurs or Liverpool and wouldn’t be a bad signing for either. But I also think that they’ve both got plenty of depth when it comes to playmaking 8/10 tweeners, and they have much bigger needs elsewhere in their squad.

Currently, I’m not sure there’s a team in the Premier League who would identify this position as their biggest need, have £40m to spend on it in January, and would be attractive to Sudakov. He might find more of a market in Spain, Italy, or Germany. Inter Milan and Borussia Dortmund, with their aging midfields, come to mind as potential great fits.

Other news and rumours

• Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk has tested positive for a banned substance. He denies ever knowingly taking one, and the FA has yet to release details on what he tested positive for and if he’ll face any discipline. However this ends up going, any investigation and/or appeals process is likely to take longer than 6 weeks, and therefore, he seems highly unlikely to make a move this January.

• Manchester United have all but said Marcus Rashford has such a poor attitude that he needs to leave for the club to build a winning culture. Seems pretty harsh to lay all that on one guy, and a bad way to get maximum value out of a sale. But in any event, someone’s going to get him on a cheap loan-to-buy this winter.

• Remember Ernest Nuamah of ghosting his Fulham medical fame? Turns out the team that tried to sell him wasn’t terribly interested in making him a key player upon his return. Now he’s being linked to a January transfer away from Lyon in search of playing time 🤦‍♀️

• Manchester United seem almost certain to sign a left-footed wingback in January, and today they’re linked to Girona’s Miguel Gutierrez. He’s having a good season with 24 key passes and 2.8 xA in La Liga. This would be a sensible move if United can negotiate a fee a little lower than his €35m release clause.

• Various blogs and rags citing “reports out of France” but no actual source say that United could also take Randal Kolo Muani on a loan-to-buy from PSG to solve their striker issues if they can’t get the Viktor Gyökeres deal done this winter. He’s been extremely disappointing since signing from Frankfurt for a bananas €80m.

• Mark Odgen reports that Martin Zubimendi and Bruno Guimaraes are the midfielders Man City is targeting. They’d both cost a lot more than last week’s rumoured target, Pepelu.

• Barcelona’s latest solution for registering Dani Olmo is selling Andreas Christensen to Newcastle. Why would Newcastle pay a significant fee for a player who’s been injured all season? Because Barca want them to, of course.

• Arsenal have been linked to various versatile young midfielders, with Thomas Partey’s contract expiring in 6 months. This week’s is Lucien Agoume of Sevilla, who is… fine. Sevilla executed an €8m option to sign him in the summer and he’s been OK since. A team with no sporting director going for a 22-year-old value signing who’s unlikely to make a big immediate impact does not pass the smell test for me. —KM

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