Mauricio Pochettino's 'fantastic' trusted Chelsea star who could make Newcastle return

Mykhailo Mudryk has made 45 appearances for Chelsea since joining from Shakhtar Donetsk just less than 14 months ago. Yet the jury is still out on the 23-year-old.

Mudryk, who was wanted by Arsenal in the 2023 January transfer window before Chelsea swooped in and beat their London rivals to his signature, has only been able to show intriguing glimpses of his talent since making the move from Ukraine. But there is still a feeling that once he gets going, he could explode at Stamford Bridge.

«He's a fantastic guy and he's such a nice person,» Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino said on Mudryk in December. «He's very authentic and genuine. One thing I can tell you, he's very honest and very trustworthy and a very genuine and spontaneous guy. I trust him as a person, of course.

»And then as a player he knows he needs to keep improving. He's still young and he is going to improve, because he has the quality. He's a player that in his evolution is doing really well and we are so happy.

«For sure with time he's going to be a very important player. He's already an important player but he's going to improve a lot because the potential is massive.»

It is getting to a point now, though, that Chelsea supporters are beginning to lose a bit of patience with Mudryk. We have, for a long time, been promised this potential world-beater, but have been deprived of seeing that thus far.

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Having potential is one thing but in what is such a brutal environment in the Premier League, potential needs to be backed up with results. Unfortunately for Mudryk, he has not