20 August 2023 , 21:28
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Chelsea forward Mykhaylo Mudryk drew an unfavourable comparison to recent Blues departure Christian Pulisic after he scuffed an open volley well over the bar in a 3-1 defeat to West Ham on Sunday. Former United States men's national team star Taylor Twellman, a prominent U.S. pundit, suggested the club made a mistake trusting Mudryk this year while selling Pulisic to AC Milan.
Twellman put an eye-roll emoji in a social media post that featured a video of Mudryk's miss, and he sarcastically wrote, "Better than Pulisic." It was salt in the wound for the Blues, whose expensive squad have just one point through the first two matches of the campaign.
Mudryk was a second-half substitute in the loss to West Ham, entering for Carney Chukwuemeka but failing to give manager Mauricio Pochettino the desired impact. He's been a lightning rod for criticism since arriving in London for a fee that could rise to £88.5million with add-ons, and Twellman was far from the only person to note his issues on Sunday.
"Maybe the substitution [Chukwuemeka off, Mudryk on] caused an issue," quipped ex-Chelsea star Ashley Cole on Sky Sports after the match. "It was all then too easy for West Ham."
Cole added: "You are looking at other players around, Mudryk sometimes is a little bit too far away from the game. Is he arriving in the box enough?"
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Mudryk spent the summer insisting the best was yet to come. "It is not all my potential," he said after scoring in the pre-season. "It is only 20 percent. I feel good because playing under Pochettino, our manager, it is nice, it is enjoyable and it is a new team which is also enjoyable."
"[It was a] learning period," he said of his underwhelming few months to finish 2022/23, later adding, "If people always expect so much from someone then it is his problem because he is [the one who is] expecting."
Christian Pulisic joined AC Milan this summer and participated in pre-season action. (AC Milan via Getty Images)The 22-year-old is part of a crowded group of forwards that left no room for Pulisic. Chelsea sent the American winger to AC Milan for a reported £18.8m after interim head coach Frank Lampard barely used him in the latter stages of the season.
Pulisic left England having scored 20 goals and assisting nine times in the Premier League while also making an impression in European competition. He famously scored in the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid in 2021.
"It wasn't necessarily one moment where it hit move, just over time and how the season went, with a year left on my contract, it felt like the right time to move for my career," Pulisic told "Men In Blazers" about his Chelsea exit. "At the end of the day, this move felt like a no-brainer."
As Pulisic tries to get his club career on track with more frequent playing time in Serie A, Chelsea already face an uphill battle in the Premier League with two consecutive poor results. They host Luton Town this coming Friday, searching for their first win, with Mudryk's inclusion in the line-up not guaranteed.