Mykhaylo Mudryk has a lot in common with Tottenham Hotspur forward Heung-Min Son, former Premier League defender Stephen Kelly tells the BBC Radio 5 Live Football Daily podcast after Chelsea snatched the Ukraine international from under Arsenal’s nose.
You can see where Kelly is coming from.
In the space of about five seconds, during Shakhtar Donetsk’s 1-1 draw with Celtic in September, Mudryk travelled from just outside his own penalty area to within the width of Joe Hart’s posts; roasting Cameron Carter-Vickers like a Thanksgiving turkey before serving up a golden chance on a silver platter for Shakhtar team-mate Danylo Sikan.
Only the most glaring miss in this season’s Champions League denied Mudryk an assist that some of the greatest footballers ever to grace Europe’s biggest stage would have been proud of.
When in full flow, even the Flash himself would struggle to keep up with ‘Europe’s third-best left-winger’. Mudryk’s brain, meanwhile, is just as quick as his feet. Before signing a remarkable eight-and-a-half year contract at Stamford Bridge over the weekend – Chelsea doing to Arsenal what they did to Tottenham when signing Willian a decade ago – Mudryk was averaging either a goal or an assist every single game for Shakhtar Donetsk.
10 goals and eight assists in just 18 games. The statistics, as they say, speak for themselves.
Arsenal miss out on Mykhaylo Mudryk to Premier League rivals Chelsea
“I’ve seen him play against Ireland on a few occasions, and he absolutely tore us apart. He just stood out (with) his pace,” says Kelly, formerly of Spurs, Fulham and Birmingham City.
“He kind of reminds me of Heung-Min Son of Tottenham; the way he plays, he’s so quick, both-footed and really direct.”
According to Fabrizio Romano, Arsenal walked away from the Mudryk deal after Chelsea submitted a staggering offer of £88 million; £62 million of which will be paid up front. Mikel Arteta’s Premier League leaders, Romano adds, were determined to avoid a spiralling bidding war. The Gunners took a similar approach when in pursuit of Lisandro Martinez, Raphinha and Dusan Vlahovic, perhaps wary of paying well over the odds for an unproven if highly-promising talent.
There’s no guarantee that Mudryk would even command a place in Arsenal’s best XI either. Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli – arguably the two most fearsome widemen in English football – will certainly take some shifting.
“You talk about being strategic and their recruitment. Arsenal have got their recruitment so spot on, so Chelsea probably thought; ‘you know what, they’re really interested in (Mudryk) so he must be doing something right!’,” Kelly laughs, highlighting Todd Boehly’s kid-in-a-candy-store, FIFA Career Mode approach to the transfer market.
“Does (Mudryk) fit into their system? They’ve got so many players; (Mason) Mount, (Hakim) Ziyech, Joao Felix, (Christian) Pulisic. All those attacking players but not centre-forwards. And they seem to need a centre-forward.”
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