Enzo Maresca biggest Chelsea challenge clear after worrying Mykhailo Mudryk update

The enigma of Mykhailo Mudryk continues. Another game has passed him by, this time for Ukraine, and he is still waiting for a first assist in 2024.

It is now 28 games in this calendar year - 14 in the Premier League out of 22 in total for Chelsea - without laying on for a teammate. Assist numbers are a spurious metric and football is not played solely on paper, but he also has just four goals in that time.

He lined up on the left wing against Romania on Monday for his country's first match of Euro 2024 alongside a talented group including Artem Dovbyk, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Andriy Lunin, and Georgiy Sudakov. His team, Serhiy Rebrov's side, were soundly beaten 3-0. Mudryk, ironically playing in blue again, may as well have been wearing a Chelsea shirt.

This was no worse than anything he has produced domestically for 18 months now but worryingly it was no better. There were flashes, as there often are, with an early gambit down the line. He ran hard, cut inside, kept going, found a pass after no space opened for a shot, and things didn't get much better.

Despite a promising start for Ukraine, who were favourites on paper entering the game, Mudryk and his team never recovered after Nicolae Sanciu's stunning opener. It was damning in look rather than reality, that when Mudryk attempted to double up in the box before Denis Dragus' second, he was bypassed easily and left a clear square pass.

The 23-year-old was the only player to pressurise a short corner but was part of the wider defensive failure to stop a low ball coming into the six-yard area. On the ball he found himself isolated against defenders but never really made any inroads.

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He ran inside and sometimes beyond but couldn't make it count. It was another frustrating game for Mudryk and follows a frustrating two years. The numbers don't say everything but they say enough.

He was signed for Chelsea for £62million with the promise of that rising to over £80million and more should add-ons be hit. The most expensive player in the Romanian side, and in their history, is Radu Dragusin, who joined Tottenham in January for £15million. Mudryk didn't decide the price, but he continues to be judged against it.

Either way, Enzo Maresca now has to try and bring the best out of him at Chelsea. The Italian will already become the third permanent head coach to manage Mudryk at Stamford Bridge when he starts the 2024/25 season, and is expected, like the others, to bring a level of consistency to his game so far unseen.

Chelsea will hope they can provide a better environment for Mudyrk to develop than his national side has, but the picture being painted is still only going one way. For Maresca it will be a new sort of task.

He was able to utilise Abdul Fatawu on the wing at Leicester in the Championship last year, helping to draw six goals and 13 assists across 40 appearances (33 starts) for the teenager. His performance at Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup showed glimpses of Mudryk in its very essence.

From the start of July it will be down to Maresca to manage the actual Mudryk. It will be one of the biggest tests of his first year at the helm.