Mykhailo Mudryk saves his Chelsea career

Cameron Smith

• 24 Sept 2024 22:15 BST
• 3 min read

Mykhailo Mudryk may well have saved his Chelsea career with his performance against Barrow on Tuesday night.

The Ukraine international has endured a fairly torrid start to life at Stamford Bridge and several reports have suggested that he could be sold during the January transfer window as Chelsea look to cut their losses.

In fact, TBR Football recently reported that Mudryk is one of three Chelsea attackers who have been told they are now playing for their future at the club.

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In addition, before Chelsea’s 5-0 demolition of Barrow, GiveMeSport revealed that the game represented one last chance for Mudryk to prove his worth to the hierarchy at Stamford Bridge.

While a match versus League Two opposition isn’t the best judge of Mudryk’s form, the Ukrainian has typically performed poorly even against lower league opposition.

He was hooked at half-time during a 6-1 rout of Middlesbrough last season, while he also failed to make a meaningful impact against Preston North End in 2023-24 too.

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However, his display against Barrow was more encouraging.

Mykhailo Mudryk vs Barrow

Mudryk was still unable to completely tear things up down the left flank, but he was far more influential than Pedro Neto and he was frequently able to bypass the Barrow backline.

The Ukrainian showed his other-worldly acceleration on a number of occasions and he whipped in several dangerous crosses with his weaker left foot.

Furthermore, he produced a lovely delicate dinked through-ball into Benoit Badiashile’s path in the second-half, before providing a perfect assist for the aforementioned Neto to score his first Chelsea goal.

Mudryk’s performance wasn’t perfect, as he failed to score for the ninth consecutive game for club and country, but he certainly didn’t negatively impact his chances of staying at Chelsea.

A dismal display may have ended his Blues career, but the 22-year-old arguably did enough to prove he deserves more time at Stamford Bridge.