Shakhtar Donetsk insist Mykhailo Mudryk is a top class player despite Chelsea struggles

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By Martin Graham | 24th Feb 2023

Following his big money move to Chelsea from Shakhtar Donetsk fans are yet to be impressed by Mykhailo Mudryk.

Darijo Srna, the director of football for Shakhtar Donetsk, insists that Mudryk will have a successful career in Chelsea.

Mykhailo Mudryk was the centre of an entertaining transfer drama between Arsenal and Chelsea, and from his social media posts, it was clear the player preferred Arsenal to Chelsea.

Chelsea shocked football fans by winning the race to sign the talented Ukrainian winger and signed an £88.6million deal with Shakhtar to get him to Chelsea.

Since his move to Chelsea, Mudryk has had a slow start, and hasn’t stamped his dominance in the games he has played so far.

Although, he has shown signs that he has the talent with his electrifying pace and quick feet, he is yet to convince fans that he has what it takes to be a huge success in the Premier League.

Srna backs Mudryk and calls for patience from Chelsea fans

Srna has weighed in on the issue of Mudryk’s transfer drama and shed more light on all that happened. He cleared the air when he spoke to the Football Ramble podcast.

The Shakhtar director of football said: “Everything is so simple – the market decides the price, not me and, of course, our president.

“If somebody wants to buy a player from Shakhtar they must respect the club, the player and the president because we know how to sell players and we know how to buy players.

“Mykhailo Mudryk is from our academy, amazing kid, amazing boy, amazing player, unfortunately at Chelsea now it’s not a good mood, and Mykhailo as well, but Mykhailo has all the qualities to be one of the best players in the Premier League in the next couple of months, in the next couple of years.

“Regarding the transfer, firstly the price was €100 million, €70m plus €30m. Arsenal also was fully in love with Mudryk, but Chelsea showed that they are more concrete and more ready to buy him.

“With respect to Arsenal, in the end it was the decision of Mykhailo Mudryk because Chelsea paid what we want, we made an agreement with Chelsea and he said, “yes I want to go to Chelsea”.”

Some fans and critics have talked about Mudryk’s recent performances, and say he is yet to convince them that he is worth the hype, but Srna doesn’t share this opinion.

He sees Mudryk as one of the best players in Europe and believes Chelsea has been struggling with a poor form which has not helped Mudryk’s performance.

“Mykhailo Mudryk is, for me, one of the best three players in Europe in his position after Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr, the next one is Mykhailo Mudryk.

“Don’t worry about Mykhailo Mudryk, you will enjoy watching him. Like in the first game he played against Liverpool where he came into the side, this is 35 per cent of Mykhailo Mudryk,’ Srna said.

“Mykhailo cannot play alone, the whole of Chelsea is not in a good mood, they are not playing amazing football, they don’t have good results but they have a lot of new players and they need time. Sometimes you don’t have time, that’s the problem, but Mykhailo, don’t worry, Chelsea fans. Mykhailo will bring a lot of happiness to Chelsea fans.

“Mykhailo is a person who thinks just about football. He thinks just about football, he goes to sleep with the ball and wakes up with the ball, this is the key to his success.

“I was so sad when he decided to go to Chelsea. I said to him, “Mykhailo, can you say with us a bit more, we need you”, but he said, “no, Darijo, it’s time to go”. We respect that.”