Shakhtar Donetsk’s Georgiy Sudakov has described Mykhailo Mudryk as an “incredible” player and believes he can win the Ballon d’Or with his qualities.
Mudryk joined Chelsea from the Ukrainian giants in January 2023 following a very public transfer saga with Arsenal and had an electric debut as a second half substitute against Liverpool at Anfield.
The winger struggled to build on that and failed to find the back of the net in his first six months at the club, but there were some signs of improvement last season.
Mudryk has the qualities to win the Ballon d’Or
Mudryk featured more regularly under Mauricio Pochettino and made 41 appearances in all competitions, scoring seven goals and providing two assists.
The talent is undoubtedly there as is the work ethic, but the performance levels on a consistent basis haven’t been there since he arrived at the club.
The 23-year-old has shown glimpses of what he’s capable of as demonstrated by a brilliant individual goal against Newcastle last season.
It feels like the Ukraine international is facing a make or break season for his Chelsea career following the arrivals of Joao Felix and Pedro Neto, whilst South American talents Kendry Paez and Estevao Willian will arrive next summer.
In theory Enzo Maresca’s system should suit Mudryk as the Italian likes to play wingers high and wide and there will likely be plenty of opportunities to impress with the amount of games this season.
Chelsea fans all want Mudryk to do well and his Ukraine team-mate Sudakov believes he has what it takes to win the Ballon d’Or.
“Mykhailo is an incredible player, he has no upper limit and he can win the Ballon d’Or with his qualities, but everything depends only on him,” he told The Guardian.
“I believe he will be able to show his best qualities. Ukraine is an incredibly talented country and he is a great example for us to follow.”
Mudryk was an unused substitute against Manchester City but will have a good chance of getting his first minutes of the season against Servette in the Europa Conference League on Thursday night.
Mykhailo Mudryk, Ballon D’or, is impossible. De Zerbi also commented he could win this one day. But watching him, and Sterling, both so erratic over the last three seasons, shows this remark to be without sense or foundation. Pity. I like the player, but Felix is a far better replacement if played more centrally where he can demonstrate his beautiful skills.
We know Mudryk is a gym rat, but he clearly doesn’t commit the same level of time an energy to watching film and studying the game. Too often he looks like a track star who’s never watched a football match! If he ever learns how to read the game, and, in particular, how to move without the ball, he’ll be a real force. But until then he’ll continue to be his own worst enemy.