Lampard: Why Mudryk is struggling at Chelsea

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 2 May 2023 12:27 BST
• 4 min read

Frank Lampard has attempted to explain why Mykhailo Mudryk has struggled so much at Chelsea since his January transfer from Shakhtar Donetsk.

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

However, the winger has endured a dreadful first few months at Stamford Bridge.

He has managed no goals and just two assists in 13 appearances amidst a string of poor performances.

Mudryk’s poor form has resulted in him dropping to the bench in recent games under Lampard.

Chelsea interim manager Lampard has attempted to explain why Mudryk has struggled and hints that he needs more time to settle.

What did Lampard say about Mudryk?

“There are things that maybe don’t get seen behind the scenes that don’t relate straight onto the pitch because we are hoping Mudryk will be a great player for this club over the years,” Lampard said.

“In this short period it might be flashes of that you see but he will have a lot to learn about the game which is very, very normal for developing players of course.

“With wingers, you feel, do they know the role of the winger defensively or do they need time to learn that role defensively. If you don’t [make decisions that way], then you might not win football matches.

“I take those decisions on more footballing attributes than the motivational one. In a way, I expect everyone to be motivated here and I expect that to be the case.

“Every game is an opportunity for young players that have come here, and we also shouldn’t expect too much of players that have just got here. Maybe that is part of the story this year of young players coming in and, because of the performance of the team, being expected to make a difference.

“In an ideal world, a club the level of Chelsea, you want to bring in those players with stability and performances and results where they can find their time, look at other players playing in front of them and realise what the standards are to get into the team.

“We can’t expect the individuals to find that, so from my point of view because I’ve got experience as a player, because I’ve got experience as a coach, all I want from the players is respect in working with us, listening to us, myself and the staff, because we do care.g

“We care a lot about the players, even if it’s just interim we are certainly not a group of staff that are putting our feet up and going: ‘We haven’t got much, let’s just wait and get paid for our holidays’. We are actually all Chelsea people in there. They are actually trying to make this as positive an experience for everybody as possible.”

Chelsea have endured a disastrous season despite a world record spend for 2022-23, and find themselves in 12th position with six games left to play.

They take on Arsenal in the Premier League at the Emirates on Tuesday.