‘Don’t understand it’… Jeff Stelling can’t believe 22-year-old keeps getting starts for Chelsea

Add as preferred source on Google

Jeff Stelling just cannot understand why Chelsea are continuing to persist with one of their players.

Chelsea recorded their seventh loss of the season yesterday after losing 2-0 to Everton at Goodison Park.

Since then, Jeff Stelling, who has been speaking on talkSPORT (11/12/2023 at 06:27), has been very critical of Mykhailo Mudryk.

Chelsea paid Shakhtar Donetsk around £89m to sign Mudryk (BBC Sport), but the attacker has scored just two goals for club so far.

Harry Redknapp recently suggested that Chelsea spent too much money on Mudryk.

Jeff Stelling doesn’t understand why Chelsea are still playing Mykhailo Mudryk

Stelling has questioned Mauricio Pochettino‘s decision to keep playing Mudryk.

On talkSPORT, he said: “Well, they’ve spent well so far, haven’t they? For goodness sake.

“One of the things I was scratching my head about and it’s really unfair to point the finger at one man, obviously Pochettino calls the shots, but I don’t get why they’re sticking with Mudryk at the moment?

“I know he cost £88m but what is it, two goals in 39 league games, don’t understand it.”

Chelsea cannot give up on Mykhailo Mudryk yet

Mudryk has not even been at Chelsea for a year yet, while he cost the club a lot of money. It is simply too early for them to discard him.

His end product is obviously lacking, but he has shown some promise at times. Mudryk has the kind of pace and dribbling ability that full-backs are terrified of.

According to WhoScored, the Ukrainian actually managed to complete five dribbles in the Everton game yesterday, more than any other player.

Pochettino now just needs to help him improve his final ball and finishing. And at 22, you would expect that to happen. He is young and is still developing. With time and the right coaching, he may be able to get there.

The only question is, is Mudryk going to get those things at Chelsea? Hopefully he does, but Stamford Bridge has never been an environment that has afforded time, while supporters will be concerned about Pochettino’s suitability to manage and coach the team right now. His tenure at Chelsea so far has been a complete and utter disaster.