Romano’s Mudryk warning

Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk has been told that he must improve if he is to remain at the club, Fabrizio Romano claims.

Mudryk has been with the Blues for 18 months but has come short of the level that was expected of him when they spent €70 million to sign him from Shakhtar Donetsk in January 2023, beating Arsenal in the process.

Romano says that Chelsea’s stance on the Ukraine international winger is very clear: they don’t want to sell him, but they do need to see an improvement in his output.

“If Chelsea wanted to sell Mudryk last summer, they had the possibility to do so because they had some approaches from Germany. There was a concrete possibility,” Romano wrote for the Daily Briefing.

“Chelsea never wanted to open negotiations to sell Mudryk in the summer transfer window so they keep trusting him and trusting his potential.

“Obviously he has to perform, but Chelsea want to see a development in what they’re doing together with the player.

“Mudryk changed his agents in the summer but that was not to ensure a transfer in 2024 because he is fully focused on Chelsea. Now his performances will be really important to understand what’s next.”

Mudryk on a knife edge

Mudryk’s latest outing against Barrow in the EFL Cup was, at least, a positive one. Although he failed to score a goal, he did produce an assist for Pedro Neto, his second decisive pass of the season.

The pressure is on the 23-year-old to perform when he does get on the park, however. Mudryk has been given just 61 Premier League minutes to date this season, such is the lack of trust in his ability to perform on the big stage, but he will surely get his opportunity in the Conference League and EFL Cup.

If he fails to make the most of these, Chelsea could well look to sell him in January.