With the season well and truly behind us now, it’s time to confess that we’re worried about Mykhailo Mudryk. He made a full 15 appearances after signing from Shakhtar for a monster €70m in January, and looked mostly terrible.
We’re all expecting him to improve with time, and especially playing in a more competent team, but even with all those considerations, they were some worrying performances we saw from him.
Frank Lampard was pretty generous with him when asked about performances, and while he never really trusted him, he gave him several chances and always defender him in the media:
“Some of the greatest players in the Premier League, when they first arrive they need sometimes need some time and sometimes they arrive and they’re put in and they find their feet and you see them flying. So maybe there’s a reason with some of our players where they need transitioning but in terms of motivation, you’re playing for Chelsea.
“There’s individual motivations throughout the squad and there’s a collective. And for me, you have to be competitive with everything we do every day and to get into the team you have to show it.”
A new campaign with new teammates, a new manager, and hopefully a new atmosphere at the club will do him good we hope. We saw more than enough to be very worried he could struggles desperately again.
Still he’s got raw pace – and that will always be a weapon in a well designed team setup. If Poch brings that, Mudryk can only improve.