Mykhailo Mudryk had a disappointing outing for Chelsea against Aston Villa
Andriy Shevchenko defended Mykhaylo Mudryk as his poor start to life in west London continued after Chelsea’s 2-0 loss to Aston Villa. He just can’t seem to get his first goal in England.
Mudryk had a chance to level the score, but he wasted it by taking a low-placed shot which saw Emiliano Martinez collecting the ball with ease.
Mudryk has been criticised for his ability to affect the game from the attack on several occasions, and against Aston Villa, he once again had poor performance. He was hooked in the 57th minute for Noni Madueke.
It was questioned whether the 22-year-old international from Ukraine was indeed worth that much money when he signed with Chelsea in January for £88.5 million.
Moreover, he has struggled to acclimatise since moving to Stamford Bridge, after failing to score goals in eight games across all competitions.
Shevchenko, a former Ukrainian player, has backed Mudryk’s performance thus far for Chelsea and thinks he will prove successful. The former Chelsea player explained to the BBC (h/t Daily Mail):
‘’Chelsea have bought a talented player, when he is very young, for the future. He’s just starting his path in a massive football career. He’s part of an ambitious project. He’s in good hands. The decision to get him right now was down to how much the club believed in his talent.’
Shevchenko is correct, he is a brilliant player and it will take time for him to improve himself at Chelsea, whether it is for the upcoming season or the one after that. We need to be patient with him since the club purchased him with the long-term picture in mind.
He won’t become a household name at the club immediately. He’ll take some time to make an impression. Didier Drogba, for example, needed a number of seasons to become a prolific goal-scorer at Chelsea before he began to score 20 or more goals in the Premier League.
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It’s natural that there will be debates concerning his performance, as Chelsea spent a huge sum for his signing from Shakhtar Donetsk. Shevchenko himself struggled to replicate his form when he joined the Blues and was nowhere near the player he was for AC Milan.
Mudryk’s situation is different, though. He’s younger and is a different type of player – a winger. He doesn’t guarantee success… but he looks like one of the closest to guaranteeing it as compared to other wingers in his age group. That’s what we paid for. Now it’s up to him and the management to make that fee look like a bargain.