Arsenal fans weren’t too happy on Sunday when it was announced that Mykhaylo Mudryk had joined Chelsea after lengthy talks with the Gunners.
It was no secret that the north London club wanted Mudryk this month, and the news that he’d picked the Blues isn’t likely to have been welcomed at the Emirates.
However, while Arsenal are likely to be peeved by this Mudryk move, they’re not the biggest losers here.
Indeed, the biggest loser off the back of the Mudryk deal may well be one player that ditched Arsenal in the summer – Omari Hutchinson.
The 19-year-old winger swapped Arsenal for Chelsea in the summer transfer window, and he may well be regretting that decision at this moment in time.
Hutchinson has only played twice for Chelsea since making the move in the summer, and his chances of first-team football have just drastically decreased after the arrival of Mudryk.
Let’s face it, Chelsea aren’t paying £88m for a winger just to leave him on the bench. Mudryk is here to be a starter, and he’s going to be there for a long time after accepted an unprecedented eight-and-a-half year contract.
Hutchinson is only three years younger than Mudryk, and while he has room to improve and become Chelsea standard, it’s hard to imagine when he’ll get the chance to usurp the Ukrainian in this team.
Factor in the arrival of Joao Felix and the presence of Raheem Sterling, Christian Pulisic, Mason Mount and Callum Hudson-Odoi as wide options, and Hutchinson’s long-term future looks rather bleak.
The teenage ‘magician’ swapped Arsenal for Chelsea in the summer, and now, the Blues beating Gunners to the signing of Mudryk may have really affected his long-term career prospects.
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