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Chelsea TV presenter Jason Cundy has urged the club to loan out ‘disappointing’ Mykhailo Mudryk and doubts he will ever come good at Stamford Bridge.
Mudryk has endured a dismal two-year spell in west London following a move from Shakhtar Donetsk for an initial £62m.
Chelsea’s deal for Mudryk could rise to £89m but it appears unlikely, at this stage at least, that his spell at the club will achieve those add-ons.
Mudryk scored seven goals in 41 matches last season and is yet to get off the mark during the 2024-25 campaign in eight appearances in all competitions.
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca, who arrived at the club in July, has openly admitted that Mudryk is struggling and has handed him just one Premier League start so far this season.
The Blues saw off competition from London rivals Arsenal in the race to sign Mudryk but as things stand they may wish Mudryk ended up in north rather than west London.
That is not to say all hope is lost and Mudryk could not yet revive his career, justify his huge price-tag and emerge as one of the most talented wingers in the Premier League.
Ex-Chelsea defender Jason Cundy does not expect that to be the case, however, and believes he should be loaned out in the hope he can rediscover his form away from Stamford Bridge.
Cundy, who works as a presenter on Chelsea TV, listed four players Mudryk has fallen behind in the ‘pecking order’ and said the transfer has ‘not worked out’.
‘There’s always going to be players like Mudryk who don’t work, who haven’t worked,’ he said on talkSPORT when discussing Chelsea’s transfer strategy in recent years.
‘I think he has got to go out on loan. I don’t see a place for him at the moment. He’s now behind Sancho, he’s behind Neto, he’s behind Noni Madueke, he’s behind Joao Felix.
‘He’s way down that pecking order for me. I don’t see a player in there because you know you have got football IQ.
‘He is rapid, but at times I feel as though the pace, his feet are too quick for his brain, he can’t quite adjust quick enough. He has got so much under the bonnet, but boy, does he disappoint.’
Maresca opened up on Mudryk’s struggles at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season and admitted he needed to improve his ‘decision-making’.
Asked whether Mudryk needed to be more consistent to be a success at Chelsea, Maresca said: ‘I think this is Misha, this is Mudryk since he joined the club.
‘I think he had some good moments and then some moments like flipping a coin. You don’t know if it’s one thing or the other thing.
‘This is Misha. If he can become more consistent, he can take one step forward. We are going to try and help him change.
‘He needs to try and understand that we are going to give him the ball in the last third. And when he’s there [it’s about] taking the right decision.
‘For me, most of the mistakes from Misha is not about the quality or the technical mistake, it’s about the choice.
‘Sometimes he has to play and he tries to do something different and we lose the ball. Sometimes he has to go one-v-one, it’s about decision making.
‘Hopefully we can help him and improve that.’
If Chelsea do loan out Mudryk of even sell the Ukraine international, they will likely have to take a big loss, something another former Blues player believes is the logical outcome.
Asked if Mudryk has what it takes to be a hit at Stamford Bridge, Glen Johnson told Betfred: ‘We’re yet to see it.
‘We’ve seen flashes of his talent and there’ve been times when he’s looked unstoppable, but we haven’t seen it often.
‘At the moment, it doesn’t look like he’s cut out for the Premier League because we would have seen it by now if he was. Maybe his time is up.
‘I’ve been supportive of him previously, but there’s reasons why the managers he’s had don’t trust him and when he’s had the opportunities to play, we’ve not seen enough from him.
‘Chelsea bought him for a lot of money, so they’re either going to have to stick with him or take a big loss on him.’
Mudryk has largely watched on from the sidelines as Chelsea have made a promising start to the season, taking 14 points from their opening seven games to sit fourth in the Premier League.
Maresca’s side, who drew 1-1 with Nottingham Forest on Sunday, return to action following the international break with a trip to Anfield to face Premier League leaders Liverpool.
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