‘Embarrassing Mudryk plays like a 14-year-old’

Carlo Garganese

• 4 Apr 2023 11:45 BST
• 3 min read

Liverpool legend Steve Nicol has blasted Mykhailo Mudryk, commenting that the struggling Chelsea man “plays like a 14-year-old”.

Mudryk joined Chelsea for €100 million in January after the Blues hijacked Arsenal's deal for the Ukrainian winger.

However, the wideman has endured a miserable first couple of months at Chelsea.

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He has managed no goals and just one assist in seven appearances amidst a string of poor performances.

Mudryk again struggled during Saturday’s 2-0 home defeat to Aston Villa, as he missed a one-on-one in which he delivered a weak finish straight at goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.

What did Nicol say about Mudryk?

“I thought Mudryk looked lost,” Nicol told ESPN.

“I remember a couple of weeks ago when Potter surprised us by playing Mudryk through the middle.

“I thought ‘wow, he did great’ and he looked good. He actually got through one v one against the goalkeeper (v Aston Villa), but he looked like a 14-year-old that went through because it looked as though he was scared.

“I mean his attempt to score was pretty embarrassing. He pretty much rolled it to the goalkeeper and hardly made an attempt to save.

“I look at Mudryk and I think ‘he is the classic example of what’s wrong with this Chelsea team’. There’s no flow to it at all.”

Mudryk also produced a disappointing performance the previous Sunday during Ukraine's 2-0 defeat to England at Wembley.

He will be hoping to be next in action on Tuesday as Chelsea play Liverpool in their first game since Graham Potter was sacked.