Arsenal Icon Paul Merson has hailed Chelsea’s £88 million January Mykhailo Mudryk signing following his impressive performance against Leicester City in the Premier League. The Ukrainian international has come under criticism following his big-money move to West London Club.
Mykhailo Mudryk was instrumental in Chelsea’s 3-1 win over Leicester City at the King Power Stadium. The 22-year-old started in attack alongside Kai Havertz and Joao Felix. He was a constant threat for Chelsea from start to finish. Mudryk provided an assist for Mateo Kovacic and had a goal ruled out for offside.
Paul Merson has revealed that he was impressed with Mykhailo Mudryk’s performance against Leicester City despite initially writing that Graham Potter does not want him in his Sky Sports Column.
What did Paul Merson say about Mykhailo Mudryk’s performance?
Speaking on SkySport after Chelsea’s win over Leicester City, Paul Merson said: “I thought Mudryk did alright. He looked dangerous.
“He played through the middle for a lot of the game. Great movement. He scored, it was disallowed; he went too early and should have gone a little bit later with his pace.”
Meanwhile, Chelsea manager Graham Potter revealed that Mykhailo Mudryk would only improve.
He said after the game: “He’ll get better and better. He’s a young player that hasn’t that much experience, so each game he’ll get better and better. His attitude is fantastic, he wants to help the team and work with the team. I’m delighted he got an assist and helped us.”
Asked whether Joao Felix was substituted after the break because of injury, he said: No, just tactically, I wanted to use an extra midfielder. I felt we needed someone who could ball win, a different profile, and I thought Conor was fantastic when he came on.”
“Joao’s goal that was disallowed was a fantastic move apart from the last bit that was offside. We had really good bits of play, I think you need that but we still had the resilience to defend as a team and play as a team. The players have the quality but it’s on us to improve as a team, attack well and if we do that then I think we’ll keep scoring goals.”
Graham Potter also hailed Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez.
He added: “He’s a fantastic player, a young player. I think he’s going to get better and better when he’s with us more. He’s just arrived to a new country and a new league so you always have to adapt to that. You can see his quality, when he gets the ball he passes forward. He sees everything.”
Potter also hinted that the team spirit is growing.
He continued: “It’s been a team performance over the week. It takes time to develop that, but the spirit is growing. The togetherness I really like, fighting to play, ready to play. Marc Cucurella has been out of the squad for a while but has now put in two great performances. It epitomizes what we need in the squad. I’m delighted for the players because it’s been a tough period we’ve been through and now we can look forward to the weekend to try and finish off before the international break with three points.”
