Gus Poyet says he ‘made a mistake’ with his initial verdict on but is willing to give the big-money signing more time to kick-start his career at Stamford Bridge.
Much was expected of Mudryk after Chelsea signed the Ukraine forward in an £89m deal from Shakhtar Donetsk in January.
The Blues beat London rivals Arsenal to his signature and handed the 22-year-old a staggering eight-and-a-half year contract.
Mudryk was lively on his debut against Liverpool, with .
The Ukrainian was tipped to kick on and emerge as one of Chelsea’s most important players in the second-half of the season but that failed to materialise, with Mudryk yet to score in 17 appearances.
‘Last year I made a mistake, and I’m not afraid of saying it,’ Poyet told . ‘When Chelsea signed Mykhailo Mudryk, I thought it was outstanding,
‘I thought, “wow, what an unbelievable player!” Then I remembered what happened to me and loads of other foreign players when they first move to England – everyone is different and we all need different amounts of time to adapt to football.
‘We think we are good enough and say, “tomorrow I will play and be the best player on the pitch”, but football is different and life is different – we all adapt in our own times.
‘I think new players and foreign players – including myself when I played – they need to be careful, because I know what can happen to all of them.’
Poyet, who spent four years at Chelsea, also addressed the speculation surrounding Romelu Lukaku’s future at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea spent almost £100m on Lukaku two summers ago but the Belgian flopped during the 2021-22 campaign and was sent on loan to Inter Milan last season.
Lukaku is due to return to west London this summer but wants to secure a permanent move away from Chelsea, with the club also willing to sell.
‘With [Romelu] Lukaku’s future, it depends on the way Chelsea are going to play – the coach needs to decide whether or not he wants him there,’ Poyet added.
‘I don’t think Romelu is a player you can adapt to any kind of system or style of play – he needs certain deliveries and spaces on the pitch in order for him to be the player that we all know.
‘It depends really on what Pochettino thinks he’s going to need as a number 9 – so that’s another decision he will need to make.’
Chelsea finished just 12th in the Premier League last season but will hope the arrival of new manager Mauricio Pochettino turns the tide going into the 2023-24 campaign.
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