£90M MUDRYK CAN BE BIG SUCCESS... I GUESS
GRAHAM POTTER admits Chelsea made an “educated guess” about whether Mykhailo Mudryk can become a Premier League superstar.
The £88million capture from
Shakhtar Donetsk, from under the noses of Arsenal, certainly has plenty of time to make his mark at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues handed the 22-year-old (top) an eight-year contract, which will protect his value if he hits the ground running.
But if he fails then he could end up as an extremely expensive mistake.
Potter (right) said: “There is no guarantee anywhere. No magic formula that says this is going to work and this is how we see the future. With every decision you’ve got to make the best educated guess you can.
“If you identify the right player and the right person, there’s huge upsides to it because you are developing and investing in him.
“If things go well, you have a fantastic asset and the club is secure in terms of the contract length. It’s a direction the club wants to go down and I’m supporting that as best I can.”
Mudryk is set to make his debut at Liverpool today, almost certainly off the bench. Potter (above) was confident he had signed a man who could add something to a squad that has already seen five other new faces added to it this month.
“He brings speed, he brings directness, he brings one-vs-one ability to just eliminate an opponent,” Potter said. “Sometimes, with all the noise around him, you have to focus on helping him settle in – not put too much pressure on him.
“It doesn’t matter how much the price tag says, it’s about helping him understand about us as a club. If we do that well, then he will be a huge success.”
Chelsea’s exit from the FA Cup at the third round stage means they are not in action again until February 3, when they host Fulham.
Potter will use the time for some team bonding for Mudryk and fellow new faces Joao Felix, Benoit Badiashile, David Datro Fofana and Andrey Santos.
When he was in charge of Swedish side Ostersunds, Potter made his players perform ballet to improve their understanding of each other’s attributes.
But the Blues boss added: “There’ll be no Swan Lake here. It’s not that they wouldn’t respond to it, I just think you have to be mindful of the environment first and the context.”