Rio Ferdinand has admitted that new Chelsea signing Mykhailo Mudryk proved him wrong just minutes into his Premier League debut. The 22-year-old winger was heavily linked with a move to Arsenal at the start of month, only for the Blues to swoop in and hijack a deal.
Mudryk appeared off the bench in the second half of the west Londoners' goalless draw with Liverpool at Anfield. Despite not having featured in a competitive clash since November for Shakhtar Donetsk, the Ukraine international looked the sharpest player on the pitch.
He injected intensity to Graham Potter's side and proved to be a constant threat, forcing Jurgen Klopp to replace the yellow-carded James Milner for Trent Alexander-Arnold. Speaking on the YouTube channel FIVE, Ferdinand confessed to changing his opinion on Mudryk amid doubts that he'd fulfil his eye-watering price tag.
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"I’ve got to say, his first touch he kicked it out of play, by the way," the former Manchester United defender said. "Everyone in the studio looked at each other and said ‘£80m what? How much?’
"And his second touch, Milner got booked trying to bring him down because he knew he was going to be off. The jets were on. He is rapid! The kid isn’t even in rhythm, he’s not played any games in the last six weeks. Imagine when he’s fully fit."
And, it turns out that Mudryk wasn't just 'rapid', he was record-breaking rapid. Despite only 35 minutes or so in the English top-flight, the winger recorded the fastest speed of any player in the league this term (36.63 km/h).
Only Anthony Gordon, Darwin Nunes, Erling Haaland and new teammate Denis Zakaria have come close to matching Mudryk's top speed but the Ukrainian has shown no sign of slowing down as he continues to work overtime in the gym.
His performance coach Dima Chapovskyi shared the video on his Instagram page with an interesting caption: "37.00. It's not temperature. It's Mudryk speed against Liverpool."
Potter now has until the start of next month to work with Mudryk, as well as other new signing Noni Mudueke, at Cobham, with Chelsea already out of the FA Cup. The respite and extra time on the training pitch will help the Chelsea boss further implement his ideas.
The Blues next lock horns with Fulham at Stamford Bridge on February 3. Chelsea lost the reverse clash last month despite dominating the early stages of the tie, with Joao Felix sent off on his debut having impressed in the first half at Craven Cottage.
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