- Should Chelsea sell Mykhailo Mudryk or be patient with the Ukrainian?
So it’s January 2023, you’re a Chelsea fan, and your club’s new owners have just hijacked a move for a highly-rated winger with scary pace and excellent close control.
They’ve just signed a player Arsenal were willing to pay £80M for. You cannot help but get excited, even if your team is currently playing badly. This new player could help your team kick-on, and probably help salvage something in what has been an awful season.
Mudryk makes his debut against Liverpool, and oh! He looks so sharp. He was the best player on the pitch for Chelsea. His speed, his touches, his dribbling, he almost made the difference against Liverpool, but he didn’t.
Now, you’re excited to see his home debut against Fulham, and he gets hooked off after barely touching the ball for 45 minutes, and that basically started a decline in everything for both your expectations of him and Mudryk’s actual performances for the rest of the season. That was exactly how Mudryk’s first 6 months played out for most Chelsea fans.
2023/24 So Far
At the beginning of the season, it was clear that he was progressing under Pochettino. The Ukrainian has shown glimpses of brilliance this season, and he has also balanced all of that with some incredibly mediocre performances.
At the start of 2023/24, He looked more confident and just a little more expressive. Since the season started, he has scored 5 times in all competitions for Chelsea and also provided 3 assists. His numbers are clearly disappointing.
Excuses
It would have been just a little unfair to judge Mudryk by his first 6 months in England. He joined a disjointed team that had over 32 players fighting for 11 spots. He played under a manager who didn’t seem to have full control of situations.
Not only that, he was also coming from a war-torn Ukraine, and had barely played for months before Chelsea signed him. Also, this season, Mudryk has averaged just 44 minutes per appearance. He has not been a mainstay in Pochettino’s Chelsea team.
Deserved Criticism
Despite not having as many minutes as fans would like for him to have, Mudryk has been directly responsible for 90% of his bad performances this season.
Poor decision-making on the wings, mediocre final balls, general ineffectiveness in important games, and unwillingness/inability to do some basic things an attacker should be capable of.
So, Keep Or Sell?
Although he has always shown a positive attitude when he is playing and when he is not, a bit more consistency in performance is needed at the highest level. Would he be able to reach that level? It is highly debatable.
All these factors now begs the question. Should Chelsea give the Ukrainian more time, or should they cut their losses early, and move on to get something who can be more effective and consistent? What do you think?
