There was one element of Chelsea’s starting lineup today which stole the spotlight – Reece James getting his first competitive start for 6 months
But as well as his exclusion, there was also an exclusion which raised eyebrows. Mykhailo Mudryk was not able to even make the bench. It’s yet another very worrying sign for the winger, who continues to fall further and further down the pecking order.
Pedro Neto and Jadon Sancho are battling it out on the left, Christopher Nkunku is a world class player who can’t get in the starting XI. Then there’s Joao Felix, who couldn’t get on the pitch today even as the Blues pushed for a goal late on.
Where does that leave Mudryk then? What about next summer when two more wingers arrive? Surely there’s no future for the Ukrainian at Chelsea.
On the back of that lineup decision from Maresca, the rumours mill gurgled into gear right away, with Fichajes in Spain immediately suggesting that a move to Marseille on loan could be a possibility.
Mudryk loan a nice idea – but hard to figure out the mechanics
We’ve been banging the drum for a Mudryk loan since just a few months after he joined. He’s just not ready, and hasn’t really improved much since joining. The idea that he could go to Marseille and work with Roberto De Zerbi, with whom he had his best success at Shakhtar Donetsk, is very tempting, and seems to make sense.
But sadly we just can’t see our sporting structure giving up on their £88m mistake just yet, and it’s also hard to see how Marseille would make it work financially. It’s something to keep an eye on until January, anyway…
