Brighton & Hove Albion manager Roberto De Zerbi has been speaking about Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk.
Brighton face Chelsea at the Amex Stadium and Mykhailo Mudryk is a player who Roberto De Zerbi knows well.
The Italian managed him during his time at Shakhtar Donetsk.
Mudryk left Shakhtar for Chelsea last January in an £89m deal, making him one of the most expensive signings in the club’s history.
However, the 23-year-old has struggled during his time at Stamford Bridge. In 57 appearances, he has managed to score just seven goals. Despite his difficulties, one pundit thinks he has the potential to be “absolute dynamite”.
Roberto De Zerbi on Mykhailo Mudryk’s struggles at Chelsea
De Zerbi has put Mudryk’s hard time at Chelsea down to a couple of factors.
One is the fact that the competition at Chelsea is on another level to what the Ukrainian faced at Shakhtar.
The Brighton boss, though, is still expecting his former player to come good.
“I think it was tough for him changing country, changing the level of difficulty of the league,” De Zerbi was quoted as saying by LondonWorld.
“The competition inside of the Chelsea squad is higher than Shakhtar. But he’s a smart guy, he loves football and I think the management of the club, of Pochettino, has been right because now he’s playing very well and he’s a big, big talent.”
Mykhailo Mudryk could start on the bench against Brighton
Mudryk scored in Chelsea’s last outing, a 3-2 win away at Nottingham Forest, taking his goal so well after an excellent pass from Cole Palmer.
Still, it would not be a shock to see him dropped for the trip to the Amex Stadium.
Raheem Sterling came on in the Forest game with the Blues 2-1 down, scoring an even better goal than Mudryk after cutting inside and firing the ball into the bottom corner of the net.
It is a big match for Chelsea, who are chasing down a Europa League spot, so Mauricio Pochettino may fancy going with the experience of Sterling.