Chelsea legend Frank Leboeuf thinks the Blues should cut their losses on Ukraine international Mykhaylo Mudryk this summer as “he’s a lost cause”.
The Blues invested a reported £89m in Mudryk when they bought him from Shakhtar Donetsk in 2022 but the Ukrainian is yet to pay them back in goals and assists.
In his first 18 months at Stamford Bridge, the 23-year-old has provided just five goals and four assists in 46 Premier League appearances.
And Leboeuf has been far from impressed by Mudryk’s contributions since arriving at Chelsea and the former France international reckons it could be time to sell the Ukrainian before he loses anymore of his value.
Lebouef, who “wouldn’t even buy him for £1m”, told BoyleSports: “Mudryk has no value anymore – he’s a lost cause and Chelsea won’t make any money on him/
“He is so raw and he’s not getting better under many managers – there’s no improvement.
“Who would want to buy Mudryk? I wouldn’t even buy him for ten million at the moment. In fact, I wouldn’t even buy him for £1m. Why would you want to spend money on a player who is not in any way productive.
“He’s been here 18 months and I know it’s been difficult for him given his circumstances at home in Ukraine, but judging from what I’ve seen, I really worry that Chelsea have signed a dud in Mudryk and they must replace him.
“I was bought for £2m in 1996 and I thought that was a lot! Mudryk was bought for £70m or something – it’s insane!”
Joe Hart – who faced Mudryk in the Champions League when he was at Celtic – thinks there is still a good player in there after watching one of Ukraine’s group matches at Euro 2024.
On Mudryk, former England goalkeeper Hart said: “There is a huge talent in him. I’ve played against him when he was high on confidence when he was at Shakhtar and they were a pretty average team being honest.
“We played well against them but he was such a threat the whole game. He smashed two past me over two legs and I was really excited when he signed in the Premier League I was like ‘watch this guy.’
Hart added: “Look, he’s still young. Chelsea’s a bit of a difficult club to shine at the moment.
“But when they do find their feet and if he’s one of the wingers when they do find their feet who are stars in that team, which they will, I’m excited to see what he can do.”
