Mykhailo Mudryk came into the limelight after his brilliant performances for former club Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Champions League 2022–23 season. Arsenal were keen to sign the winger, and Chelsea also showed their interest. In the end, Chelsea managed to sign the Ukrainian talent for a reported €70 million fee. Mudryk became the most expensive Ukrainian footballer of all time.
The 22-year-old has found it a bit difficult to settle at the London-based club. A lot of transfers and changes in teammates have disturbed the rhythm at Chelsea. Known for his speed and dribbling ability, Mudryk lacked the end product, and that worried the fans. Mauricio Pochettino kept his faith in the youngster, and he delivered his first goal for the Blues in their last game. Let’s take a look at the stats of Mudryk and observe what his presence brings to Chelsea’s attack.
Mykhailo Mudryk plays as a left winger for the Blues. He is a great dribbler of the ball and makes some long dashes to beat the opposition players. The winger has a 60% dribble success rate in the current season. This is a massive improvement from the 42.2% success that Mudryk had in the 2022-23 season. In the current campaign, Mudryk has attempted 15 crosses, and only three have found a teammate. This is one of the areas where Mudryk will look to improve. Chelsea are not a team with tall players in the attack. This means Mudryk has to attempt more low crosses into the box.
The progressive runs of Mudryk have impressed many. He likes to penetrate the opposition penalty box and that creates more threats in the game. In the current season, 21 such runs have been made by the Ukrainian international.
End product
One thing that Mudryk lacked at Chelsea was the ability to score goals. He failed to score a goal in the 2022-23 season for the Blues. The 22-year-old finally scored a goal against Fulham in Chelsea’s last game. A pass from Levi Colwill was nicely taken on the chest by Mudryk to score his first goal in Chelsea’s colours.
There is a bit of a creative side in Mudryk’s game. He provided two assists in the last campaign and is yet to register one in the current one. The player manages to deliver passes into the penalty box and his teammates often get on the end of these passes.
One area where Mykhailo Mudryk has been effective is his ability to contest and win duels. The forward contests 6.5 defensive duels and 2.18 loose ball duels per 90 minutes. His win percentage is 58.3% for the defensive duels and 62.5% for the loose ball duels.
Mykhailo Mudyk has shown what he offers to the team and what more he can do in the coming games. Chelsea are finding their rhythm and so are the players.
Visuals via TFA data viz engine
