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Soccer

Chelsea must be patient with Mykhailo Mudryk, says club legend

Chelsea must be patient with Mykhailo Mudryk, says club legendChelseaFC

Pat Nevin says Chelsea is "phenomenal" and that the club must give the recent addition time to find his form.

The former Scotland international and Chelsea winger was full of praise for the Ukrainian, who joined the Blues at the beginning of the year. Nevin stressed that Chelsea cannot allow for another player to leave and become a superstar at another club, like Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah, and he puts Mudryk in that category of player.

However, the club and fans must be patient, he said. 

"There's a reason why Arsenal wanted Mudryk - he's phenomenal," Nevin told OLGB. "His pace is ridiculous and so are his skills.

"He had different problems to everyone else as he was a Ukrainian lad coming into a new country. There was also a massive transfer fee hanging over him, though the pressure is slightly off now due to the other fees Chelsea have paid.

"I think he has the potential to be a great forward and a great creator. He came into a side that wasn't playing well, but he didn't make it easy for himself.

"His numbers last season were not good. I always look at the underlying player and I don't think Chelsea want to lose him.

"Chelsea know better than anyone that if you let a player go, they can be world-class somewhere else. He came in in January, which is a tough time for players to arrive.

"It's early days this season, and I still have great hopes for Mudryk when the team starts clicking. That could be later this season or next season.

"He has all the qualities that defenders hate playing against. If Chelsea did cut their losses, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him shine somewhere else.

"He's still only 22. You'd expect him, and a lot of other Chelsea players, to start finding their best form.

"The problem is, you have so many players who aren't at their peak yet, and that's why you need experienced players like Thiago Silva or Ben Chillwell to help the team gel. It's just not clicking as well as everybody at the club would have hoped."