Mykhailo Mudryk, Willian, Robinho, Jorginho: Chelsea Dominates Top Hijacked Transfers in the Premier League

• Mykhailo Mudryk's transfer to Chelsea became the latest transfer in a long list of hijacked transfers.
• The Shakhtar Donetsk winger was all along thought to be joining Arsenal only to sign for their London rivals.
• Chelsea have perfected the art of poaching the transfer targets of their rivals or signing their players.

Chelsea's new ownership of the Todd Boehly-led consortium has taken over from where Roman Abramovich's reign left off.

Abramovich guided Chelsea into untold success, which was more often than not, marked by poaching players from their rivals, or 'stealing' their transfer targets. Boehly has followed it up by signing Joao Felix and Mykhailo Mudryk - both of whom were targets of Arsenal.

Mudryk's turnaround is especially hysterical given how he had inadvertently expressed his desire to join Arsenal. But when Chelsea came knocking with better terms than Arsenal, he quickly changed his mind. After all, poverty is the enemy.

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Sports Brief takes a look at some of the biggest hijacked deals in the Premier League's history as captured by Daily Star.

1. Willian

Same script as Mudryk's but a different London club. Willian had already undertaken his Tottenham Hotspur medical and was all set to join them.

But a last-minute swoop from then-Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho changed the Brazilian's mind. He ended up winning a couple of trophies in West London.

He has previously revealed that he was held up in Tottenham's office for eight hours as he waited for Chelsea's offer.

2. Jorginho

Another classic Chelsea steal. Pep Guardiola had for so long yearned for the then-Napoli midfielder. Jorginho has often been compared to Sergio Busquests who enjoyed a successful relationship with Guardiola at Barcelona.

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Jorginho has in the past admitted that he was set to join Manchester City but Maurizio Sarri's appointment as Chelsea's boss changed his mind. He went on to beat Manchester City in the 2021 Champions League final.

3. Jesse Lingard

After running down his Manchester United contract, Lingard was set to make a return to West Ham United. David Moyes' side were reluctant to meet Lingard's wage demands and while they stalled, newly promoted club Nottingham Forrest swooped in, made a better offer and took the England international.

4. Roy Keane

The legendary Manchester United captain had already shaken hands with then Blackburn boss Kenny Dalglish only for a game of snooker with Sir Alex Ferguson to convince him to join Manchester United instead.

5. Robinho

Who would have thought that Chelsea could get outsmarted at their own play? Manchester City marked their rebuild under new ownership by making the Brazilian forward their first signing in 2009.

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Chelsea had even started printing shirts with Robinho's name after agreeing personal terms. But a late change of fortunes saw Robinho head to the Etihad instead.

Shakhtar teases Arsenal fans

Sports Brief earlier reported that Shakhtar teased Arsenal fans on Twitter with a series of tweets about the 22-year-old before accepting Chelsea's offer for the player.

The teases were just to announce the Ukrainian Messi was the club's player of the year for 2022 and had nothing to do with an impending transfer.

It's not the first time Chelsea will hijack a deal from rivals, having also hijacked former Shakhtar player Willian's deal to Tottenham.