Jeff Stelling is baffled by Mauricio Pochettino’s faith in Chelsea winger Mykhaylo Mudryk.
The Ukraine international has started Chelsea’s last three Premier League games, and in fairness got assists against both Brighton and Manchester United before drawing a blank against Everton.
But there’s little doubt he’s failed to live up to expectations following his £88m move from Shakhtar Donetsk in January, managing just two goals and four assists in total in 32 appearances.
Mauricio Pochettino has leapt to the forward’s defence, as he has done with a number of his players, insisting he needs time to get used to the Premier League.
But Stelling told talkSPORT that he’s confused as to why Pochettino is sticking with Mudryk given his lack of goal contributions.
He said: “Well, they’ve spent well so far, haven’t they? For goodness sake.
“One of the things I was scratching my head about and it’s really unfair to point the finger at one man, obviously Pochettino calls the shots, but I don’t get why they’re sticking with Mudryk at the moment?
“I know he cost £88m but what is it, two goals in 29 league games, don’t understand it.”
Mykhaylo is one of a wide array of players signed by Chelsea under Pochettino and before with the new owners at the helm.
They’ve spent over £1bn in 18 months and yet, Pochettino believes they need further reinforcements in January.
Pochettino said: “It’s about improving. We are talking after four, five months – 16 games – and it’s about assessing.
“If we are not able to score today with all the chances we had… we have to score if we want to win the game.
“We want to be in a different position in the table. The team played well against a very difficult team like Everton. We were much better than them but you need to score.
“After the first half of the season, we need to check. That is the reality. If we are not receiving enough, maybe we need to do some movement.
“That is the thing to analyse with the sporting directors, to see if we can change this dynamic and improve in the second half of the season.
“We need to be more aggressive. Then it’s a massive assessment and when the transfer window opens, we will see what we can do.
“I don’t say if I am going to ask for more or less players. It’s to see if the perception matches the reality.
“We are missing something. We need to improve our reality.”
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