With a £62million price tag and Premier League leaders Arsenal pining for his signature for most of the past five months, Mykhailo Mudryk comes to Stamford Bridge with a big reputation. For a player with just eight international caps for Ukraine, 29 senior league matches and just over 2,000 minutes to analyse, there is a lot of risk in the move too.
He has been spoken highly of by players and coaches, including current Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi, and offers an element of intrigue that Chelsea simply haven't had from their signings in the recent past. Whereas at the Emirates Stadium there was a sense of security and challenge to take the place of Gabriel Martinelli, Mudryk is arguably a first choice player already for Graham Potter.
With injuries seeing teenager Carney Chukwuemeka played on the left and Christian Pulisic struggling for output before his injury setback, Mudryk could be just the dynamic and explosive option needed to add energy to the current side. No pressure, it's only a game at Anfield against Liverpool next.
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However, unlike previous iterations of Chelsea, there isn't a chance that Mudryk will not be given every chance to succeed. On an eight-and-a-half-year deal the Blues are banking and fully invested in his rise. His success would prove progress for the club. In the past that hasn't been the way and young players have been left to suffer.
With most of the so-called 'good' and 'attractive' shirt numbers at the club already taken by the assortment of attackers at the club, Mudryk has taken on the No. 15 shirt. Immediately it doesn't grab the attention like No. 7, No. 10 or No. 11 but it does offer rich history. Didier Drogba wore it in his first season at the club before going on to make the No. 11 shirt truly his.
He scored 10 goals in that first year, a modest total for a 26-year-old backed so heavily by Jose Mourinho. His success after that proved to be a good example of standing by a player, but it also impacted on future No. 15's that would play at the club. Florent Malouda was an undoubted success, another speedy left-winger, but those that followed the Frenchman had less success.
Does anyone remember what happened to Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah? The wearers of the No. 15 shirt at Chelsea between 2014 and 2016, the pair scored a combined two league goals for the Blues - before going on to notch another 185 for Manchester City and Liverpool, respectively.
Back then Chelsea needed these players to be good enough immediately. Good enough to rival Drogba and challenge him in order to be worth a place in the squad. If they weren't, then they went. This isn't the case with Mudryk though, he is a project in himself. An investment that will intertwine with the club's future unlike the previous No. 15 owners who were almost a separate entity entirely.
It may be considered an omen or a message, maybe even a challenge for the 22-year-old to overcome. It could be nothing at all, but looking through the history of shirts can paint a picture, this time Mudryk is holding the brush.
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