Vesper

1 2 Pool SOTON pulls one back

3 2 FT meh

so close to the tying goal

super header

3 2 Nketiah

3 1 Jesus hat trick

1 1 Gabriel Jesus

another great save by Henderson on Sterling

nil 2 Pool game very likely over already SOTON is just horrid

nil 1 Pool (of course, they are playing dire AF SOTON)

2 nil NUFC

Chelsea’s Josh Acheampong signs new long-term contract https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6003115/2024/12/18/Chelsea-josh-acheampong-contract-new/ Chelsea have ended doubts over the future of Josh Acheampong by tying their young talent to a new and improved long-term contract. Acheampong’s previous agreement was set to expire in June 2026 but following an uncertain period, he has signed a fresh four-and-a-half-year deal. It sees the promising defender, 18, commit to Stamford Bridge until 2029 and is a timely development for the west London club — especially given there was strong interest from leading sides in the Premier League and overseas. Chelsea confirmed The Athletic’s story later on Wednesday. Problems during the negotiations impacted Acheampong’s game time at senior and age-group level, but subsequent progress saw the academy graduate earn his full first-team debut in the recent Conference League victory at Astana. Acheampong is now training with head coach Enzo Maresca’s squad on a daily basis and has a good chance to start again when Shamrock Rovers visit in the same competition on Thursday. Maresca is known to be keen on working with such prospects and integrating them into his plans. Retaining the England youth player is also viewed internally as a statement of intent by co-director of recruitment and talent Joe Shields and academy director Glenn van der Kraan, in conjunction with co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley. Having joined Chelsea at Under-8s stage, Acheampong came through their system and turned professional in January before then-coach Mauricio Pochettino gave him a first senior appearance; coming off the bench in a 2-0 home win over Tottenham Hotspur last season. Acheampong has so far represented his country from Under-16 to Under-20 level.

NUFC up 1 nil

https://www.vipleague.pm/carabao-cup/southampton-vs-liverpool-1-live-streaming

https://www.vipleague.pm/carabao-cup/newcastle-united-vs-brentford-1-live-streaming

https://statistics.soccerstreams100.io/league/eng-league_cup

Аrsеnаl – Сrystаl Раlасе England. League Cup / 18 December at 20:30 Nеwсаstlе Unіtеd – Brеntfоrd England. League Cup / 18 December at 20:45 Sоuthаmрtоn – Lіvеrрооl England. League Cup / 18 December at 21:00

nil 1 Palace

https://www.vipleague.pm/carabao-cup/arsenal-vs-crystal-palace-1-live-streaming

'Unify League' 🤪

Chelsea ‘support and trust’ Mykhailo Mudryk after positive doping test – Enzo Maresca https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6003439/2024/12/18/mudryk-Chelsea-enzo-maresca/ Enzo Maresca says he believes Mykhailo Murdyk’s protestations of innocence over his positive doping test and does not think the situation will be the end of the Ukrainian’s Chelsea career. Mudryk tested positive for the banned substance meldonium after playing for Ukraine last month and is facing a lengthy ban if the Football Association go on to charge him with an anti-doping rule violation. The 23-year-old released a statement on Tuesday saying he was in “complete shock” and insisted he had never “knowingly used any banned substances or broken any rules”. Maresca, who reached out to Mudryk a few days ago on learning about the situation, is standing by his player’s version of events. He said: “We support and we trust Misha. Trust means that we believe Misha, we trust Misha and we support him.” A player found guilty of doping can be banned for up to four years. Maresca is convinced Mudryk, who is under contract at Stamford Bridge until 2030, can recover from this setback regardless. Pressed on whether this could be the end of his career, Chelsea’s head coach added: “I don’t think so. I don’t think so. I think he’s going to come back. Now the only thing is that we don’t know when. It’s the only doubt we have in this moment but for sure he’s going to come back.” GO DEEPER Explaining Mudryk's drugs ban: What is meldonium - and possible punishments Defender Tosin Adarabioyo revealed what happened to Mudryk has stunned the squad but says it will not disrupt their season. Chelsea have won their last seven matches and sit second in the Premier League. He said: “It was news to all of us, we all found out at the same time as you guys. We still support Misha and hopefully, things will get sorted. There is not much we can do in this situation. It is out of our hands, but Misha is part of our family and we are here to support him. “It is a very unfortunate situation but we are all professionals, we know that once we get on that pitch we have business to do and that is our main focus.” Maresca has not ruled out the possibility of Chelsea finding a replacement for Mudryk in January should the worst-case scenario play out. Tyrique George, 18, has made seven appearances for the senior side and his best position is on the left wing where Mudryk is often selected. Maresca said: “We now have four games before January. We have Everton, Fulham and Ipswich (in the Premier League). So then after these three games we are going to sit and we are going to decide if we need to do something. “For sure, Tyrique is going to get minutes and we are going to try to help him to improve day by day because now he’s working with us every day.” GO DEEPER Mudryk, the Chelsea winger who arrived as a £62m victory - but is now facing failed test

wooooooooot

Is Jadon Sancho turning into the player everyone thought he would be at Chelsea? https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5993826/2024/12/17/jadon-sancho-Chelsea-analysis-manchester-united/ The most surprising thing about Jadon Sancho’s brilliant goal against Tottenham was not that his low, arcing shot from outside the penalty area whipped into the net off Fraser Forster’s far post. It was that he decided to shoot at all. Receiving the ball on the half-turn near the touchline, Sancho’s go-to move at Chelsea has been to play a well-timed, perfectly weighted pass infield to an underlapping runner. In the sequence below, that runner was Enzo Fernandez. But the Argentina international’s movement also opens up space for Sancho to dart into a more central area with the ball. On this occasion, he does, and actively hunts his own shot rather than searching for an incisive pass: “In training, I’ve been working on my shooting a bit more,” Sancho told Sky Sports after the win at Spurs. “The staff and the players have been telling me to be a bit more selfish in front of goal, so I’ve been working on that.” It was only Sancho’s sixth shot attempt in 10 league appearances for Chelsea (only seven of which have been starts), but he went on to have two more against Tottenham. This one came from a much more recognisable move: slipping in the underlapping Marc Cucurella from the left side, then moving diagonally into the penalty area to connect with the Spaniard’s deft return pass and poke a shot which Forster just managed to tip away from danger. Sancho also hurt Spurs with his playmaking, dropping a shoulder to evade Timo Werner on the left flank before slipping a no-look diagonal pass into the box for Moises Caicedo to draw a reckless tackle from Yves Bissouma and win the first of two Chelsea penalties in the game. It was a classic example of the qualities that Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca was keen to highlight in Sancho. He had returned to the team with two assists from the right wing in a 2-0 away win over Heidenheim in the Europa Conference League. “He is what we need, especially against a team that defends with a low block,” Maresca said of Sancho in his post-match press conference. “We need that quality in the last third, the last pass and he can shoot, sometimes he will shoot more than he did against Heidenheim. But I think he is going to help us a lot.” Sancho’s second assist against the Bundesliga side was eerily reminiscent of his Borussia Dortmund days: sucking a defender towards him before initiating a slick one-two with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and then picking out Mykhailo Mudryk with a cutback to the edge of the box: That outing was something of an exception in the early months of Sancho’s career at Chelsea. One significant reason why he is looking more like the best version of himself is simply that he is getting more opportunities to play in his favoured left-wing role than he did at Manchester United, or even at Dortmund. Another is Maresca’s appreciation of the fact that Sancho is a footballer who does his best work in small spaces rather than big ones. He does not have the top speed nor lightning acceleration that helped make Eden Hazard so devastating at Chelsea, but he does possess a similar level of ball mastery and passing vision to the great Belgian. In particular, he is a maestro at manipulating defenders with the ball to create valuable passing angles to team-mates. This sequence in his impressive Chelsea debut against Bournemouth in September was a sign of things to come: he moves down the left flank, drawing three defenders towards him with a series of body feints and jinks, before picking the perfect moment to poke the ball infield to a wide open Nicolas Jackson, who curls his shot narrowly over: Sancho’s combination of ball-carrying and passing has already become an important element of Chelsea’s attacking play whenever he is on the pitch. The below totals are even more impressive when you consider he has played just 582 minutes in the Premier League this season, considerably fewer than many of his Chelsea team-mates; his 7.4 box entries per 90 minutes are the most of anyone in Maresca’s squad. With three assists in his first nine Premier League appearances for Chelsea, Sancho has already equalled his assist totals in each of his two full seasons at United. In terms of creation, he already seems to be on a path back to something that more closely resembles the wing terror who racked up 45 assists in four full Bundesliga seasons with Dortmund. But for his playmaking to be truly maximised he must also be a more consistent threat to score, which explains the recent emphasis on upping his shot attempts. Sancho has taken seven shots in his last five appearances across all competitions for Chelsea, having had only one in his previous seven. Even with this recent burst, he is still averaging fewer shot attempts per 90 minutes in the Premier League (1.2) than Maresca’s right-back/auxiliary No 8 Malo Gusto (1.4). Sancho has never been a high-volume shooter. His career-high average of 2.2 attempts per 90 minutes (for Dortmund in the 2020-21 Bundesliga campaign) would rank well below Noni Madueke (4.3 shots per 90), Cole Palmer (3.5 shots per 90) and Jackson (3.1 shots per 90) at Chelsea in the Premier League this season. But when he does shoot, Sancho has demonstrated the ability to be a highly efficient finisher. In his two best scoring seasons at Dortmund, he found the net with around 30 per cent of his shots, which is broadly in line with his conversion rate for Chelsea so far in 2024-25 (two goals from eight shots, or 25 per cent). In that respect, he is also similar to Hazard, who frequently had to be cajoled by team-mates and a series of coaches to be more selfish in the final third. “I like to give my friends the glory in front of the camera and assist them as much as I can,” Sancho said with a smile in a recent interview with Sky Sports. That creation alone is enough to make him highly valuable to Maresca, but if Sancho can balance his playmaking tendencies with scaling up his shot attempts, Chelsea may well see him blossom into the all-round attacking superstar that United thought they were getting from Dortmund three years ago.

Chelsea’s Mykhailo Mudryk drugs ban explained: What is meldonium and what punishments could he face? https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6000684/2024/12/17/mykhailo-mudryk-Chelsea-drug-ban-meldonium-punishment/ Mykhailo Mudryk is among Chelsea’s most expensive signings — a player who once represented the club’s ambitious direction of travel in the post-Roman Abramovich era. But less than two years after his £62million ($78.9m) signing from Shakhtar Donetsk, the Ukraine international has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for the banned substance meldonium. Both Chelsea and Mudryk have issued statements to categorically make clear that the player has never “knowingly used” any banned substances but any athlete found to have breached anti-doping regulations can face a lengthy suspension. The Athletic looks at the key questions as Mudryk faces up to an uncertain future. What has Mudryk done? Routine testing showed what Chelsea have called “an adverse finding” in a urine sample provided by Mudryk. That has led to a provisional suspension from first-team action as all parties await the results of further testing. “This has come as a complete shock as I have never knowingly used any banned substances or broken any rules, and am working closely with my team to investigate how this could have happened,” Mudryk wrote on Instagram. “I know that I have not done anything wrong and remain hopeful that I will be back on the pitch soon.” The Athletic has reported that Mudryk returned a positive test for the banned substance meldonium after being on international duty in November, a period that saw the winger feature in both of Ukraine’s UEFA Nations League games against Georgia and Albania. Mudryk has not featured for Chelsea since playing the 90 minutes and scoring in a 2-0 win over Heidenheim in the Conference League on November 28. When explaining his absence in press conferences since that game, Enzo Maresca, the club’s head coach, has either said simply that Mudryk is “out” without specifying a reason, or has said he was ill. GO DEEPER Mudryk, the Chelsea winger who arrived as a £62m victory - but is now facing failed test What is meldonium and which sportspeople have been found to have taken it? A prohibited substance, in short. Meldonium is a heart disease drug developed in 1970 in the former U.S.S.R. It is designed to combat ischemia, a condition where blood flow is restricted to body tissue, muscles or organs. It boosts metabolism and increases blood flow and, by extension, the exercise capacity of athletes. It was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)’s list of banned substances in January 2016 after its previous inclusion in the agency’s monitoring programme the year before. Former Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova had been the most high-profile case of an athlete being banned for using meldonium. A failed drugs test at the 2016 Australian Open led to a two-year ban issued by the International Tennis Federation, with Sharapova accepting she had made “a huge mistake” in taking the substance. Maria Sharapova tested positive for meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open (Michael Dodge/Getty Images) Sharapova told a news conference in Los Angeles she had been given a medicine for 10 years by her family doctor and had been unaware that it had also been known as meldonium, which had been added to WADA’s prohibited list in the weeks before her failed test. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reduced Sharapova’s ban to 15 months in October 2016 after finding that she did not deliberately cheat and that there was no “significant fault or negligence on her part”. The use of meldonium was not uncommon by Eastern European athletes before its ban, but it was the subject of a doping scandal in 2016 when the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia replaced its under-18s squad with an under-17s team at the World Under-18s Championships due to several players returning positive test results. Who is responsible for drugs testing in the Premier League? UK Anti-Doping (UKAD), the national organisation established to help keep all sports clean, works in conjunction with the English Football Association to test Premier League players. The disciplinary powers belong to the FA, which will decide the length of suspension that is given out to a player who fails a test. It was the FA that notified Chelsea and Mudryk of his adverse finding in an ‘A’ sample and will await the findings of the ‘B’ sample before deciding the next steps. The FA issues clear directives to all players each season and reminds them of the “strict liability” over any banned substances found. The sole responsibility, it says in the FA’s anti-doping guidance, belongs to the player “regardless of how (the substance) got there and whether there was an intention to cheat or not”. How often are players tested? There is no set amount or limit to the number of times a player is tested, but UKAD will typically visit each club on three or four occasions throughout a season. UKAD’s most recent published figures show that between July 1 and September 30 this year it conducted 643 drugs tests on behalf of the FA, over a quarter of the 2,206 tests conducted across sports during that period. The testing team will arrive without notice and select a small number of players at random. There are set rules to the procedure, with the selected players remaining in full view of the doping control officer (DCO) and asked to remove enough clothing for observation of a urine sample being taken. A refusal to participate can bring a lengthy suspension of up to four years. Testing will most commonly take place at training grounds or in a post-match setting. The process will take as long as is necessary, with some dehydrated players known to take more than an hour to produce a sample. DCOs are also able to visit athletes at their homes but footballers are mostly tested in their professional environment. How unusual is it for footballers in England to fail drugs tests? Adverse findings are few and far between and, most commonly, have been due to traces of recreational drugs being discovered. Former Chelsea forward Adrian Mutu, goalkeeper Mark Bosnich and one-time England midfielder Jake Livermore were all given suspensions by the FA for testing positive for traces of cocaine, as was the Cardiff winger Nathaniel Mendez-Laing more recently, in 2020. Further afield, the use of performance-enhancing drugs is rare but not without precedent. In February, French World Cup winner Paul Pogba was banned for four years when found to have taken a doping agent while at Juventus, a suspension that was later reduced to 18 months when an appeal to CAS found the consumption of the drug had not been intentional. He is still without a club. Paul Pogba’s career was derailed by a failed drugs test (Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images) In February 2021, Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana, then playing for Ajax, was banned for a year by UEFA after testing positive for furosemide, a diuretic. That was reduced to nine months by CAS after the court accepted Onana’s explanation that he had confused the medication — which he said belonged to his wife — with aspirin. Last month saw Oscar Zambrano, the Hull City midfielder, also given a lengthy ban. Zambrano had returned a positive test last season when playing for his Ecuadorian parent club LDU Quito but had remained eligible to feature until CONMEBOL issued a ban for breaching anti-doping rules on November 4. Hull, who had only signed the player on loan, said Zambrano intended to appeal through CAS but the case is not yet listed. What are the rules around confidentiality for players who fail tests? The FA outlines the process in their anti-doping regulations. The player and his or her club are the first to be notified if an initial sample returns adverse findings, prompting a provisional suspension under Regulation 54. An investigation, including further testing of a ‘B’ sample, follows and the theory is that the process is kept confidential until the point of a charge letter being sent out. The FA, as such, has declined to comment on Mudryk’s situation so far. The coordinated statements issued by both Chelsea and Mudryk on Tuesday morning came after several media outlets in Ukraine broke the news of the player’s suspension. What kind of punishments can be applied now? Nothing as yet. The initial tests are not grounds for guilt and, in cases, have been known to be erroneous. The provisional suspension issued by the FA ensures Mudryk cannot feature for Chelsea until that further analysis has taken place and it will be an anxious wait to discover if the ‘B’ sample shows evidence of the same banned substance. If that sample comes back positive, the consequences of that could be severe for Mudryk. Doping bans typically cover between two and four years, though as mentioned above, appeals can reduce the length of those bans. “If we look at what happened with Paul Pogba, his violation and the consequences that followed, that was a lengthy ban,” says Jibreel Tramboo, a sports lawyer at Church Court Chambers. “I understand the circumstances are different but the point still follows. “Anti-doping regulations are a strict liability offence. Athletes are fully responsible for substances found in their bodies. It’s irrelevant if it’s accidental or intentional. If it’s there, it’s a breach. You could argue a reduced sanction if he can demonstrate no significant fault or negligence in what he’s taken but there is arguably no defence.” What are Chelsea’s options now? Chelsea have indicated their support for Mudryk, who “confirmed categorically that he has never knowingly used any banned substances”. The early emphasis has been placed upon establishing the facts of the case, but there will be a decision to be made should Mudryk face a long-term ban. Chelsea, albeit under previous ownership, sacked both Mutu in 2004 and Bosnich in 2003 when they were banned by the FA for taking cocaine. Bosnich, then an ageing goalkeeper, saw his protests of innocence overlooked by Chelsea, while Mutu, signed for £15million, also had his contract ripped up. Adrian Mutu was sacked by Chelsea after his positive drugs test (Phil Cole/Getty Images) There is little doubt that an intentional doping offence can form the grounds for dismissal if Mudryk is sanctioned, but Chelsea’s willingness to pursue that avenue would not be a given. Mudryk, after all, is a player signed as a huge future investment and has a contract running until at least 2030. Parting company with an obvious financial asset — no matter Mudryk’s struggles in English football — would be difficult without an avenue for compensation. Chelsea, though, again have history on that front. Mutu’s sacking left them out of pocket and the club successfully took legal action against the player, winning £14million in damages for breach of contract. Mutu lost a series of appeals, including one through the Swiss Federal Court. “Chelsea have their precedents, sacking Adrian Mutu for the use of cocaine, but based on what we’re seeing so far, with Mudryk not knowingly using a banned substance, it’s a very different case,” says Tramboo. “Mutu was taking cocaine, which was in complete breach of his contract.” Depending on what happens next, Tramboo says “there might be enough to lead to a sacking through breach of (Mudryk’s) contract” but he is “not convinced that’s the road Chelsea would choose to go down. I think ultimately they will support him and the best argument they will have legally is what they can do to mitigate the situation, to reduce the sanction.”

Mykhailo Mudryk, the Chelsea winger who arrived as a £62m victory – but is now facing failed test https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5999033/2024/12/17/mykhailo-mudryk-Chelsea-doping-test-analysis/ When Mykhailo Mudryk arrived at Chelsea, everyone at the club regarded it as a major victory. As the second anniversary of his acquisition from Shakhtar Donetsk approaches, the mood has turned a lot more sombre. Mudryk was greeted with loud cheers when he was introduced to Chelsea fans for the first time during half-time of their 1-0 victory at home over Crystal Palace on January 15, 2023. For months, the Ukraine international was expected to join London rivals Arsenal and it was seen as a major coup when the winger ended up at Stamford Bridge instead, similar to when Chelsea gazumped Tottenham to get Willian a decade earlier. This was a player who had shone for Shakhtar Donetsk in the group stages of the Champions League, with three goals and two assists in six matches. Observers took note as he starred in games against Real Madrid. Mudryk had also impressed in the Ukrainian Premier League, registering seven goals and six assists to help take them to second in the table. GO DEEPER Explaining Mudryk's drugs ban: What is meldonium - and possible punishments Mudryk had become a hero for the Ukraine national team in a difficult time for the country — both on and off the football pitch. As the Russia–Ukraine war raged on, he broke into the national team. In June 2022, he made his senior debut for the nation as they came very close to securing qualification for the World Cup in Qatar. When he was unveiled at Stamford Bridge, he was wrapped in a Ukraine flag. Mudryk is still important to his national team, scoring the winning goal in a 2-1 victory over Iceland earlier this year to send them to Euro 2024. The official statement on the club website, when the Mudryk transfer was completed, betrayed the satisfaction felt among the Chelsea hierarchy. Co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali said: “We are delighted to welcome Mykhailo to Chelsea. He’s a hugely exciting talent who we believe will be a terrific addition to our squad both now and in the years to come. He will add further depth to our attack and we know he’ll get a very warm welcome to London.” Mudryk, who signed a seven-and-a-half-year deal with the option for another 12 months, seemed content too. “I’m so happy to sign for Chelsea. This is a huge club, in a fantastic league and it is a very attractive project for me at this stage of my career.” Mudryk being unveiled as a Chelsea player (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images) These comments aged very quickly as the winger struggled to make an impact. They read even more awkwardly now, as he has to recover from a setback which is far more severe than, for example, picking up a major injury. Mudryk has now failed a drugs test, having been found with the banned substance meldonium in his system. Meldonium is a drug known as a metabolic modulator which is used medically to treat a lack of blood flow to different parts of the body, often the heart. For athletes, it can assist with endurance and the capacity for exercise. The Football Association’s (FA) anti-doping regulations state that any breaches will be dealt with as strict liability violations. For example, a player will be found guilty of a violation if a prohibited substance is found in that player’s body. It is not necessary to demonstrate intent. A player’s alleged lack of intent or knowledge is not a valid defence to a charge. A violation of the FA’s anti-doping regulations carries with it a maximum penalty of a four-year suspension, although mitigating factors can reduce that from anywhere from two years to just a month. A Chelsea statement read: “Chelsea Football Club can confirm the Football Association recently contacted our player Mykhailo Mudryk concerning an adverse finding in a routine urine test. “Both the club and Mykhailo fully support The FA’s testing programme and all our players, including Mykhailo, are regularly tested. Mykhailo has confirmed categorically that he has never knowingly used any banned substances. Both Mykhailo and the club will now work with the relevant authorities to establish what has caused the adverse finding.” Mudryk added on Instagram: “I can confirm that I have been notified that a sample I provided to The FA contained a banned substance. “This has come as a complete shock as I have never knowingly used any banned substances or broken any rules, and am working closely with my team to investigate how this could have happened. “I know that I have not done anything wrong and remain hopeful that I will be back on the pitch soon. I cannot say any more now due to the confidentiality of the process, but I will as soon as I can.” Mudryk has not appeared for Chelsea since scoring in the Conference League win over Heidenheim on November 28. Head coach Enzo Maresca indicated the player was suffering with illness. But whether due to illness, injury, form or the latest issue that has cropped up, life at Chelsea has never been easy for Mudryk. When Mudryk joined in January 2023, he became part of what was already a heavily bloated squad, struggling in mid-table under beleaguered head coach Graham Potter. Being bought for an initial €70million (now equivalent to £58m, or $73.6m) plus a further €30m (£24.9, $31.5m) in potential bonuses obviously came with a lot of expectation. There was surprise when The Athletic revealed he was on a salary of around £97,000 a week. It was assumed Chelsea must have offered a lot more for him to choose them over Arsenal but there was not a great disparity in the transfer fee or wages offered. A thrilling debut as a substitute in a 0-0 draw against Liverpool raised the excitement levels even more. But while there has been the odd flash of skill, assist or goal to add to a highlight reel since then, no head coach has been able to get a consistent run of performances from him. Mudryk struggled for form after arriving at Chelsea (Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images) It did not help that he arrived mid-season and had gone two months without a game due to the campaign in Ukraine taking a winter break. It was also his first move away from home, leaving friends and family behind in a war zone. Had he joined Arsenal, Mudryk would have had Ukraine international teammate Oleksandr Zinchenko to help him settle into the dressing room and life in London. Instead, he found himself at a club where no one spoke his language. Mudryk is a quiet figure anyway but the communication barrier made things even harder. At the start of this season though, he told the Chelsea website how he had stepped up his English studies and that it was an important step for him to take ‘to be myself’. He had got to know some of his teammates better, saying: “You have all these different people, and at the same time they are so the same.” More tellingly, he was looking to show more of what he could on the football pitch. He went on to admit: “People haven’t seen the best of me. There is still a lot more to come. I do a lot of hard work on and off the pitch. Sometimes you want something so bad but only at the right time will it happen. You can try too hard, so you have to find a balance between that and not trying at all. When you find this balance, you will find success. I am confident you will see the best of me over time.” Sources at Chelsea told The Athletic at the time that Potter was very much behind Mudryk’s purchase and felt he could rejuvenate an attack that had scored just 21 goals in 18 league matches. But Potter was sacked less than three months later and Mudryk has worked with two more permanent head coaches since then. Last season, Potter’s successor Mauricio Pochettino seemed to speak glowingly about his massive potential one week and then admit his frustration the next. After dropping him from the first XI earlier this year, Pochettino said in a press conference: “It’s about the form during the season. As coaching staff, we are a meritocracy — we are going to play with the players who are going to do their best on the pitch. “I think Mykhailo Mudryk is a young guy who arrived here one year ago. We know the circumstances around [the transfer]. Of course, he needs to improve. He has amazing quality and potential, but it’s a [team] game, it’s not tennis.” Mudryk battling for the ball during a game against Everton (Stu Forster/Getty Images) This seemed like a particularly loaded barb given that one of Mudryk’s favourite hobbies away from football is paddle ball, a racket sport adapted from tennis. Not long after this Mudryk responded to a fan on social media who had messaged him ‘Every time you play, we have one player less’. Mudryk replied, ‘You good at football?’ and challenged him to a one-on-one. Mudryk’s passion for fitness has always been evident. Pictures have regularly emerged of him working out in a gym somewhere, lifting weights. One ill-advised recording of an older attendee earned a damning rebuke from fitness influencer Joey Swoll though, once again bringing him under scrutiny for all the wrong reasons. His teammates have been full of respect for his athleticism. Wesley Fofana labelled him quicker than Kylian Mbappe during an interview with the club. After setting Mudryk up for his first official Chelsea goal in a 2-0 win at Fulham last season, defender Levi Colwill insisted that Chelsea players saw a much more confident Mudryk in training than in competitive matches. He told The Athletic: “Everyone can see the qualities he has and we see it all the time in training. He is such a good player and to come here and bring it in the first half was amazing. Now he’s got to build on it. “He’s got everything you want as a winger, as a player. He just needs to show it every game. It’s tough coming in from Ukraine to Chelsea. There’s a lot of pressure that he may not have experienced, a different culture, and other things together.” It has been evident Maresca has been losing patience with him at times since taking over in June. Ahead of playing Barrow in the Carabao Cup, he said: “I don’t think it’s a lack of confidence. Misha is Misha, you have to accept the way he is.” Despite scoring in a 4-1 win at Panathinaikos a month later, the Italian lamented how Mudryk was taking on tactical instruction ‘slower’ than the other players, both attacking-wise and defensively. It seemed a major factor why he had started just one Premier League game up until now under Maresca and played for just 146 minutes in all. Mudryk scoring in his last Chelsea appearance — against Heidenheim (Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images) Playing regularly in the Conference League has seemed to help increase his self-belief. He registered his third goal in the competition in his last appearance for the club at Heidenheim on November 28. Like his strike against FC Noah a few weeks earlier, it was a superb shot into the top corner. It felt like Mudryk was finally having the opportunity to hit some form. This was, after all, a player who commanded a huge fee — and the promise of a friendly with Shakhtar Donetsk from Chelsea co-owner Eghbali as part of the deal. In an interview with The Athletic in January 2023, Shakhtar chief executive Sergei Palkin said: “It was Behdad who proposed (the friendly), because he said he wanted to help Ukraine, to help Ukrainian refugees and to support Ukrainian people. For us, this match (in Donetsk) would be like a miracle (having not played in their home city since 2014). We would have this match every weekend if we could.” The promise of that match might not be gone, but Mudryk’s own involvement in Chelsea action going forward is now up in the air. Mudryk has not been seen in a club shirt since that win over Heidenheim. Maresca might have initially blamed his absence on illness, but now another reason has emerged. FA policy dictates that any player testing positive is provisionally suspended pending a decision. Who knows when we will see Mudryk play for Chelsea again? But after arriving to such great fanfare, this is what he is in danger of being most remembered for during his Chelsea career, a far cry from all that excitement generated on January 15, 2023.