Ex-Chelsea midfielder tells Enzo Maresca to drop ‘waste of time’ signing

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has been urged to drop ‘waste of time’ big-money signing Mykhailo Mudryk.

Mudryk, who completed an £89m move to Stamford Bridge in January 2023, failed to get any minutes in Chelsea’s Premier League opener against Manchester City.

The 23-year-old played the entirety of Chelsea’s Europa Conference League win over Servette but failed to make much of an impact, before being subbed off at half-time in Saturday’s 6-2 thumping of Wolves.

Maresca criticised Mudryk after the Servette and Wolves games and should not find himself on the bench for the foreseeable future, according to ex-Chelsea midfielder Craig Burley.

‘Noni Madueke was absolutely flying from the first minute, it was a big statement from him,’ he said on ESPN when assessing Chelsea’s win over Wolves. ‘It was much better from Nicolas Jackson as well. 

‘Not that we learned anything, but Mykhailo Mudryk is just going to be a waste of time, as a starter. 

‘Pedro Neto will play there. He came on there, but he will play. Mudryk is just not consistent enough. 

‘In terms of the performance, the big difference [from former managers] was the speed which Chelsea attacked. 

‘It was way better and I know it’s only one game and they could revert back but I don’t think so. 

‘It was clear to me that this manager wants the ball shifted quicker and they did it brilliantly. It was a brilliant performance.’ 

Chelsea saw off fierce competition from London rivals Arsenal to sign Mudryk but the Ukrainian has hugely underwhelmed at Stamford Bridge.

Asked whether Mudryk needs to be more consistent to justify his huge price-tag and be a success at Chelsea, Maresca said after the Servette game: ‘I think this is Misha, this is Mudryk, in terms of not only tonight, but in terms of since he joined the club.

‘I think he had some good moments and then some moments like flipping a coin. You don’t know if it’s one thing or the other thing.

This is Misha. If he can become more consistent, he can take one step forward. We are going to try and help him change.

‘He needs to try and understand that we are going to give him the ball in the last third. And when he’s there [it’s about] taking the right decision.

‘For me, most of the mistakes from Misha is not about the quality or the technical mistake, it’s about the choice.

‘Sometimes he has to play and he tries to do something different and we lose the ball. Sometimes he has to go one-v-one, it’s about decision making.

‘Hopefully we can help him and improve that.’

Maresca appeared to be running out of patience with Mudryk when asked about his half-time substitute against Wolves.

‘I was not happy,’ Maresca said bluntly when asked why Mudryk was hooked. ‘I think in some moments we can manage some situations better.

‘He was working very hard off the ball and that was very good. But in terms of on the ball, I expect a bit more quality from Misha.

‘For me, he had some good moments the other day and some good moments today and the reason why was just because we needed to change and give Pedro [Neto] some minutes.’

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