Mykhailo Mudryk is expected to play a major role for Mauricio Pochettino this season as Chelsea hope to challenge for the Premier League title
Mudryk earns ‘next Hazard’ title after fantastic s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 vs Borussia Dortmund (Image: Photo by Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty Images)×
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Mykhailo Mudryk has earned comparisons to Eden Hazard after pulling off a fantastic piece of s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁. The 22-year-old winger caught the eye again in pre-season on Wednesday evening as Borussia Dortmund held Chelsea to a 1-1 draw.
Halfway through the second-half against the German side, Reece James played a one-two with Enzo Fernandez to beat the press. As the right-back lifted his head to look for options, he dropped his shoulder and accelerated in-field before unleashing a tremendous diagonal pass to Mudryk, who found himself unmarked on the left-wing.
Oozing confidence, the Ukraine international leaped into the air and beautifully controlled the ball with his left-foot from behind his right-leg – an archetypal s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 which Neymar has produced since his days at Santos in the Brazilian top-flight. Mudryk then cut inside and arrowed a shot goal-bound which was blocked.
A clip of the Chelsea winger producing the s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 quickly went viral on social media, sending supporters into a frenzy. So, with that being said, football.london has taken a look at some of the best reaction to Mudryk’s moment of brilliance.
@mfolkemer23 tweeted: “Reminds me of Hazard.”
@gaknezz tweeted: “Trent and Diaz every game.”
@Jai_Mcintosh tweeted: “The fact Chelsea have a player who is willing to control the ball like this makes me so happy.”
@IdliChutneyMan tweeted: “These are the kind of long balls I expect shaw/dalot to be spraying to Rashford/Garnacho/Antony but I rarely see any from them. There’s no point in having wide wingers if you are never going to switch your play.”
Speaking to football.london, Ben Chilwell insisted that Mudryk has ‘endless bags of potential’ and recognises his role as a leader in the squad to help the younger players realise their ceilings. The Chelsea left-back said: “With Mischa I just see endless bags of potential that hasn’t been fulfilled yet.
“I’ve told him that, I’m not just saying that. I’ve told him he hasn’t fulfilled that yet for one reason or another. I literally had a conversation with him today after training in the changing room, because he’s been on fire the last few days and obviously was on fire in the game against Brighton and I just said he needs to keep that up now for the whole season.”
“We all see how good he is and he just needs to keep up what he’s been doing,” he added. “Personally I just like to make people feel confident in themselves. If I can come away from a conversation with one of the players where they feel like they’re unbeatable, that’s what I try and bring out in people.
“When I have these conversations with Mischa for example, it’s just to make him feel like he’s unstoppable so that when he goes into the next game he’s full of confidence. And I try to do that with as many people as I can.”
Pochettino will be hoping that Mudryk can continue his spritely form against Liverpool on the opening weekend of the new Premier League season.
