Mykhailo Mudryk’s numbers read as follows: eight starts, 813 minutes (including substitute appearances), no goals and two assists.
After the efforts Chelsea made to beat Arsenal to the signing of the Ukrainian in January, they would have hoped for a much better return on their investment thus far.
GO DEEPER
One red-eye flight, Potter's promise and £97,000 a week: How Chelsea won the race for Mykailo Mudryk
Mudryk was regarded as one of the best young players in the sport when he arrived. The 22-year-old’s stock has depreciated somewhat since then.
There is no respite from the scrutiny in England as he has been named in the Ukraine squad to face Gareth Southgate’s side in a European Championship qualifier this weekend.
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An indication of where his head is at came on his personal Instagram account late on Wednesday, three days before the game is played. Mudryk posted a graphic picture of the conflict between Russia and his homeland. He has 1.6million followers on the social media site, many will be young football fans. While Instagram’s sensitive content warning blocks the image, which at the time of writing had not been deleted and contrasts greatly with the next photo of the player meeting fans, it is nevertheless shocking and should not be sought out.
Judging by his latest appearance for Chelsea, which raised more questions and certainly more groans of disapproval from the home fans at Stamford Bridge, Mudryk is going into the international fixture with his confidence at a minimum.
Coming on late in the game with Chelsea trailing 1-0 down to Nottingham Forest last Saturday, Mudryk provided little threat. The Ukraine international had 22 minutes, including nine minutes of added time, to help Mauricio Pochettino’s side get an equaliser. Instead, his display emphasised just how lost he appears to be right now.
Given that Mudryk is an attacking player who likes to run at defenders and put balls into the box, his output was underwhelming. According to Opta data, he produced just one shot, attempted seven passes (completing four) and four crosses. Perhaps the biggest indication of how comfortable the Nottingham Forest players were defending against him is the statistic showing he was not fouled once. Right now, he’s not a player you have to worry about stopping.
It would be easy to start labelling Mudryk as a flop, that Chelsea made a mistake in paying Shakhtar Donetsk an initial €70million (£61.6m, $75.5m) for his signature or that the player would have been better off joining Arsenal instead. But perhaps his situation should be treated with more sympathy as it is certainly not as clear-cut as it might seem.
To begin with, consider the timing of Mudryk’s transfer at the start of the year. Not only had the negotiation been a stressful one — with Arsenal seemingly the favourites for several weeks only for Chelsea to gazump their rivals at the 11th hour – but he had gone two months without any football due to the Ukrainian season taking a winter break. It meant Mudryk arrived effectively needing to do pre-season again.
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But Chelsea could not afford to wait. Their campaign was in freefall, having lost seven of their previous 14 matches. The new acquisition had to play. Mudryk made his debut off the bench at Liverpool just six days after being unveiled on the Stamford Bridge pitch. Mudryk impressed at Anfield but it is a level he has not really matched since.
Some mazy runs from Mudryk! 🔀 pic.twitter.com/FxD5BUx3B7
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) February 24, 2023
No one should be too surprised that Mudryk did not excel at Chelsea last season. He joined a club where the mood in the camp deteriorated as each bad week and result went by. The head coach Graham Potter regularly changed the starting line-up in an attempt to turn things around. It meant Mudryk was in and out of the team, usually playing (when picked) with different players. There was no chance to build a rhythm.
Several players were counting down the days before they could leave in the summer. Potter did not even have to wait that long as he was dismissed in April, leaving Bruno Saltor (one game) and then Frank Lampard (11 matches) to see out the remainder of the season.
Amid this, you have a 22-year-old living a long way from home for the first time with limited knowledge of the English language. An example of this came during his first interview with the English written media on the club’s pre-season tour of the USA in July. Speaking after Chelsea’s 4-3 win over Brighton, a game in which he excelled, the exchange lasted around 90 seconds and the answers consisted of fewer than 100 words in total.
Mudryk was, and continues to be, worried about friends and family left behind in Ukraine who are having to cope with the country being at war with Russia. How would you perform in your daily life in this situation? A salary of £97,000 a week, while very welcome, cannot help with that.
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If we take Saltor’s one-off appearance out of the equation, Mudryk is also now working under his third Chelsea head coach in the space of just eight months. Mauricio Pochettino is in the process of getting a squad, which has undergone another window of significant incomings and outgoings, gelling together. Pochettino finds himself under a bit of pressure too, after suffering two defeats in his first four Premier League games.
Despite showing some encouraging signs in pre-season — he scored a fine goal against Brighton — Mudryk has made just three substitute appearances lasting only 67 minutes for Pochettino, not helped by a minor calf injury.
There is clearly plenty of room for improvement. The question is: will that ever materialise?
Mudryk also has to take some responsibility for things not working out yet. The Athletic has spoken to sources around Chelsea and close to the player — on an anonymous basis to protect relationships — to get more insight into what is going on.
First and foremost, he cannot be accused of not working hard. He loves doing extra sessions in the gym, perhaps too much. As one confidant explains: “He will be in the gym at the training ground before and after normal drills. He loves it.
“He will do what Chelsea ask him to do training-wise, but will always find the time for extra gym work. Players notice he is committed. He wants to be better. People need to leave him alone. He is a nice lad.”
But some believe he is in the gym too much, even visiting ones away from the club. The Athletic has been told that Chelsea have actually told him to tone the gym work down a little due to concerns he is overdoing it.
This is not a phase he is going through. He was already regularly exercising like this at Shakhtar Donetsk. They were accustomed to him working with heavy weights and powerlifting. Mudryk sees it as helping his stamina and physical readiness.
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It is also clearly one of the things he enjoys off the pitch to keep himself entertained living in a new environment. Another is playing video games. That is not unusual for a footballer but one source suggested that he spends more hours doing it than most. With gamers competing and conversing over the internet, it provides an option to connect with people all over the world, including friends in Ukraine, at all times of the day.
Another sign of his dedication was making himself available in July for Ukraine’s bid to win the European Under-21 Championship, where they reached the semi-finals. A month earlier, he started for the senior side in their 3-2 win over North Macedonia, setting up two of Ukraine’s goals.
Being prepared to drop down a level is hardly the sign of someone with an overinflated ego who is resting on their laurels. The aim was to not only help Ukraine win a trophy but also get some more football into his legs so he could start the season with Chelsea in good shape.
He enjoyed being back with fellow countrymen and registered three assists in two matches. He also made an appearance for a charity game at Stamford Bridge on August 5 that was set up to raise money for Ukraine.
One attendee observed: “He was very shy when I saw him, barely said a word. He looks like he needs a hug. His English is not great. The language barrier is quite tough.
“Playing for Ukraine at the under-21s tournament boosted his self-belief, he seemed happier being around people he knows, being around Ukrainian people. He was away from all the criticism. It was the same with the charity game at Stamford Bridge. But not starting the opening games of the season for Chelsea seemed to knock him back again. You can see there is a player in there.”
Mudryk is being judged on his transfer fee, rather than his experience. You will regularly see his cost being stated at £88million (€100m) due to performance-related add-ons being included in the deal.
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However, the agreement with Shakhtar consists of €5m increments that are paid for winning the Premier League and Champions League on a per-instance basis — meaning Chelsea would need to win both competitions multiple times for Shakhtar to receive the full €100m figure. As things stand, it could take them a while before they worry about having to pay an extra sum even once. Despite these caveats, at least one Premier League club regards Mudryk as heavily overpriced according to their data model.
It is no wonder he looks a bit raw. At Shakhtar, Mudryk played only 65 times at senior level (including 21 games on loan for Desna Chernihiv and Arsenal Kyiv) before making the move to Chelsea. Even if you add his 11 caps for Ukraine and the 20 appearances for Chelsea, he has still not amassed 100 appearances at the highest level.
Taking on tactical instruction is a work in progress. He did not do himself any favours at West Ham United last month when Chelsea went down to 10 men before the interval due to the injury to Carney Chukwuemeka. Pochettino wanted to bring Mudryk on as a substitute but Chelsea had to see out the final few minutes a man down because he took too long to get ready.
But he has clearly made a good impression on his team-mates, who rate him highly. During an interview on the club’s pre-season tour of the United States in July, vice-captain Ben Chilwell made his feelings clear.
“With Mudryk, I see endless bags of potential that hasn’t been fulfilled yet,” Chilwell said. “I’ve told him that, I’m not just saying that. I’ve told him he hasn’t fulfilled that yet, for one reason or another.
“He needs to decide when to cross, when to shoot, when to dribble, when to pass and hopefully, I can help him try and get that decision-making. He can be such a good player. It’s just trying to guide him. He needs to have confidence in his ability, that we’re all completely behind him.”
Chilwell is not the only one to have offered words of encouragement and advice. Last season another senior player highlighted to Mudryk how he was tending to rush or snatch at things whenever he approached the opposition penalty area, that he was showing all the signs of wanting things to happen too much. He was advised to be calmer in the final third, to trust in his talent — the goals and assists would come.
Another indication of how much he is appreciated came in an in-house interview earlier this year alongside team-mates Wesley Fofana, Chukwuemeka and Benoit Badiashile. Fofana said Mudryk is the fastest player he has ever come up against, faster than Kylian Mbappe. Some supporters have come up with the nickname of “Ukraine Bolt” but it is not used in the most complimentary fashion, suggesting he is all speed and little else.
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His sprints are certainly a major asset. But Chelsea are often playing against teams, such as Nottingham Forest, who sit deep and deny him the space to run into. Mudryk has also been used more as a substitute (12 times out of 20) than a starter, meaning he is often being put on to salvage a game going wrong, increasing the pressure on his shoulders to deliver in a short period.
At the back end of last season, Lampard revealed one of the reasons Mudryk was not a regular pick under him was that the coaching staff were trying to improve the defensive side of his game.
Before the Forest fixture, where the attacker made his return from a calf problem, Pochettino said he is focusing on improving Mudryk mentally and physically. Chelsea’s head coach said: “He needs to feel comfortable, feel really strong in his body. He suffered from the beginning.
“We are focused on trying to help him be really strong and healthy. No one can perform if you don’t feel strong in your body. We are working in all of the areas he needs to feel good. I hope in the next weeks he starts to find his form.”
In that brief interview with English journalists in the summer, Mudryk admitted he had shown only 20 per cent of what he can do. He also said having “patience” was what he had learned the most so far.
He now needs others to show him the same courtesy.
(Top image: Getty Images)