Enzo Maresca has given an honest critique of Mykhailo Mudryk’s time at Chelsea, suggesting that fans never know what they’re going to get from him.
The Ukrainian winger joined the club in January 2023 for a fee of £89million but has struggled to showcase his undoubted quality on a regular basis.
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This was the case once again on Thursday night as Chelsea came out 2-0 winners over Servette in their Europa Conference League, with the winger being the subject of post-match criticism from the new boss.
Speaking after the game, Maresca said: “This is Misha, this is Mudryk, in terms of not only tonight, but in terms of since he joined the club.
“He had some good moments and then some moments like – I don’t know the English word,” before gesturing the flipping of 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.”
Since joining the club, Mudryk has scored seven goals and offered four assists in 59 games for the club.
As his numbers suggest, the quality is there, the challenge is for Maresca to bring it out of him on a more consistent basis.
“We are going to try and help him change,’ Maresca added
“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.
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“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.”
Maresca’s strong comments won’t come as a surprise, given Chelsea tough stance regarding a number of stars this summer.
Conor Gallagher has already been forced out of the club to join Atletico Madrid, while Ben Chilwell, Trevoh Chalobah and Raheem Sterling are among the latest players to be banished from first team duty at Stamford Bridge.
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