‘Hasn’t got a clue’ – Mudryk slammed as Chelsea icons leap to his defence

Will Ford
Mudryk Chelsea

Mykhaylo Mudryk “hasn’t got a clue” what’s going on according to one former Chelsea player, as two others have defended the Ukraine international.

Mudryk missed a couple of big chances for Chelsea in their 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday and has so far failed to live up to his £88m price tag in his short time at Stamford Bridge.

And Tony Cascarino claimed that while the 22-year-old should be forgiven for missing opportunities, Mudryk has looked clueless in a Chelsea shirt so far.

Assessing Chelsea this season for talkSPORT, Cascarino said: “They’ve got great individuals. Look at Felix, he’s a great technical player, there’s no doubt he’s got the lot. Havertz produces moments, but I don’t think he will be the long-term solution.

“Mudryk’s come in. He had a couple of chances and didn’t take them – that happens. But since he’s come he looks like he hasn’t got a clue what’s happening around him.”

But Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, working as a pundit for Sky Sports, said Mudryk needs time to settle.

“He needs time. It’s a bad miss, don’t get me wrong. It’s a bad, bad miss,” the Dutchman said.

“But because the boy has come in for £88m or whatever it is, it does not mean the boy is the finished article. It does not mean he isn’t going to miss chances. It’s a bad miss but you need to give him the room to fail, get up and start again.”

Speaking on Sky Sports, the former striker continued: “It wasn’t him who decided to pay that fee. The club decided to pay the fee for him. He missed the chance, a big chance. He should have done a lot better.

“But he’s a wide player, you can see from the way he’s tried to take the chance that he’s not used to being in these types of situations. He needs to get himself into more of those situations to be comfortable with it. He needs to work on it and he needs to have the time.”

And compatriot Andriy Shevchenko also came out in support of Mudryk, who’s “in good hands” at Chelsea.

“Chelsea have bought a talented player when he is very young, for the future,” he said. “He’s just starting his path in a massive football career.

“He’s part of an ambitious project. He’s in good hands. The decision to get him right now was down to how much the club believe in his talent.”

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