Brighton stepping up pursuit of Shakhtar Donetsk defender following injury to Chelsea loan star

The 26-year-old is Albion manager Roberto De Zerbi’s top target and the Italian coach is said to be pushing for the club to sign the Ukrainian international.

Brighton are reluctant to pay Shaktar’s £20 million valuation of the centre-back, but talks are said to be on-going.

Matviyenko, who has won 52 caps for his national side, played under De Zerbi whilst he was manager of Shaktar from May 2021 until July 2022, when he left Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion.

The player is keen to work with De Zerbi again and is currently in London on non-transfer related business.

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Brighton are keen to sign a central defender after news broke that Levi Colwill would miss 4-6 weeks of action with a quad injury.

Matviyenko is a left-sided centre-back and came through the Shakhtar youth system before making his debut in 2015.

He has gone to make 131 appearances for the club, scoring six goals and winning two Ukrainian Premier Leagues, four Ukrainian Cups and one Ukrainian Super Cups.