Mykhailo Mudryk can be the best winger in the Premier League next season, says Gael Clichy (PA)
Gael Clichy believes Chelsea’s Mykhailo Mudryk has the potential to be the best winger in the Premier League next season.
Mudryk has struggled for consistency ever since Chelsea beat Arsenal in the race to sign the Ukraine international in a £88.5 million deal from Shakhtar Donetsk 16 months ago.
The 23-year-old has scored just seven goals in 41 appearances this season and a section of Chelsea supporters still have doubts about whether the winger will become a success at Stamford Bridge.
But former Arsenal and Manchester City defender Clichy insists it would be wrong to write off Mudryk based on just one full season in the Premier League.
‘Mykhailo Mudryk was about to sign for Arsenal for big money last year, and everyone was thinking he was going to come in and change the team completely, with his pace, and how good he looked with the ball at his feet, and everything like that. Then, you look at the year or so he’s had with Chelsea and some people might think, ‘thank God we didn’t buy him’,’ Clichy exclusively told Ladbrokes Fanzone.
‘Does it mean the player is not performing? Maybe he’ll turn up next season.
Mykhailo Mudryk has scored seven goals in all competitions for Chelsea this season (Getty)
‘We have to think about other things, off the pitch, such as what’s happening with him at home, coming from a place where things are really tough right now. Sometimes, we forget about this kind of thing and just focus on what the guy is doing on the pitch.
‘My son, for example, will cut his finger at school, and I won’t feel good for the whole afternoon. So I can’t imagine what these guys are having to deal with. And when I talk about these guys, I’m talking about the people of Ukraine.
‘We have a similar situation at Arsenal with Oleksandr Zinchenko, who has been extremely important for Arsenal since he signed for the club. And, all of a sudden, people are saying that maybe it’s time for him to move on, because he’s not giving us what we want anymore.
‘Football is a machine which does this sometimes; we forget that outside of this game, there is life.
‘I wouldn’t be surprised is Mudryk comes out next season and becomes the best winger in the Premier League, because he’s absolutely got all of the attributes which you want in a winger.
‘Why is he not performing now? His club is not performing, maybe he’s not feeling himself, and maybe that will change next season. And maybe Zinchenko will feel better next season; we don’t know. We don’t know what these people are going through, and you have to keep that in mind.
‘We all have quick opinions, and it’s very easy to judge when we haven’t got all of the cards in front of us.’
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