It’s no secret that last season was a nightmare for Chelsea F.C. They had four different managers and finished in 12th place in the premier league, their worst finish in 29 years. Last January the club spent €329 million during the winter transfer window, including €70m plus €30m in add-ons for Ukrainian Winger Mykhailo Mudryk from F.C. Shakhtar Donetsk.
Mudryk was initially slated to go to Chelsea’s heated London rival Arsenal. But the Gunners didn’t want to pay the hefty sum that the Blues were willing to and as a result, Mudryk ended up in blue instead of red.
The price tag on the 22-year-old Ukrainian winger indicates, first that Chelsea under new owner Todd Boehly is not afraid to spend money and secondly that they believe Mudryk is worth the big investment. They hoped that Mudryk could be someone that could jumpstart their season, and be a glimmer of hope.
However, that wasn’t the case, in 15 appearances Mudryk managed to score zero goals and mustered up only two assists. And he had opportunities to score, and some of his misses were dreadful. Watching him miss easy sitters was similar to Alvaro Morata’s time with the Blues.
One in particular that comes to mind was against Aston Villa when Mudryk had a one-on-one with Emi Martinez and shot the ball right at him. Another example was late in the season against Manchester United when he shanked a golden opportunity in front of the goal.
This happened three and a half minutes into the game, as Mudryk had the chance to give the west London side an early lead against a top-four team. Instead, he nearly whiffed at the ball, and Manchester United went on to win 4-1.
At times the youngster from Shakhtar looked scared in front of the goal when he had chances to score, which is certainly a cause for concern. While it may be hard to be optimistic about Mudryk’s future after his poor showing from last season, there are reasons for Chelsea fans to be excited about what he could potentially become given time.
One, he’s only 22 years old, which means that he is very raw, and still hasn’t played a lot of soccer. Making the jump from the Ukrainian League to the EPL is a massive leap, especially for someone as young as Mudryk.
Two, this may be a grim way to look at things, but it’s the truth. Considering how poor his performances were last season, Mudryk can really only go up from here. As previously stated, he managed to score zero goals and only two assists in 15 appearances. Coming into this season, he’ll have an entire summer with the squad, with a new manager which also gives him a clean slate.
Three, due to the fact that the Blues are going through a massive squad overhaul, many of the players that were heavily featured last season, have been sold to other clubs. As of right now, the only wingers who are on the team apart from Mudryk are Raheem Sterling, Noni Madueke, Callum-Hudson-Odoi, and Hakim Ziyech, who Chelsea has tried to sell repeatedly over the last year.
The club is thin with wingers at the moment, and they don’t have a lot of established players in the position other than Sterling. That said, Mudryk should have plenty of chances to earn a spot in the starting 11.
Four, there is a reason CFC spent €70m on Mudryk, and that’s because he oozes potential. His strongest attribute on the pitch is his blistering pace, where he can go by defenders in a flash with or without the ball at his feet. Mudryk’s incredible speed allows him to go by defenders with ease and it also irritates them to the point where he has a knack for drawing fouls.
Five, we’ve recently seen Mudryk on the international stage play well for the Ukraine U-21s in the European Championship. His best play came against France where he made an incredible assist.
What this shows is he certainly has the talent in him, he just needs to find a way to harness it at the Premier League level. That will be on Mudryk himself to work hard at making improvements, along with the new CFC manager Mauricio Pochettino, who has hinted that he is excited to work with the young Ukrainian winger.
"“I am going to meet Mudryk before he comes to pre-season. I really like to see and to know him, and then to design the best strategy to help him to be at the level that Chelsea expect,” said Pochettino. Whether he ends up being in Pochettino’s first starting 11 as Chelsea manager is another story."
Mudryk has recently returned to training for Chelsea and is looking noticeably stronger from recent pictures. Last season one of the biggest deficiencies in his game was despite his rapid speed, he wasn’t very strong, and as a result, defenders were able to take advantage of that.
Only time will tell to find out if Mudryk has what it takes to succeed for Chelsea and in the premier league. Hopefully, he will be given the opportunity to do so on the pitch. If the young Ukrainian can reach his ceiling this season, then the Blues have found themselves a diamond in the rough.