Mykhailo Mudryk on path to becoming Chelsea's next star after nearly joining Brentford
During their days in the EFL Championship, Brentford were hailed as the kings of recruitment.
The Bees' 'Moneyball' tag (which they detest to this day) was first bestowed upon them during their most recent spell in England's second tier.
A graphic displaying their transfer business from the summer of 2019 - in which they signed current key players Bryan Mbeumo, Mathias Jensen, Christian Norgaard, Ethan Pinnock and Mads Roerslev as well as former stars David Raya and Pontus Jansson - went viral recently, demonstrating their proficiency at finding undervalued assets in the market.
But since promotion to the Premier League and the riches that have arrived with it, Brentford haven't been as savvy with their signings. Their list of targets who got away is impressive, though - Brennan Johnson, Viktor Gyokeres, Vanderson and Johan Bakayoko have all come close to moves to the Gtech Community Stadium.
One player that Brentford were desperate to bring in was a certain Mykhailo Mudryk.
Brentford's long-standing interest in Mudryk
The major story of the January 2022 transfer window was Christian Eriksen deciding to return to Football with Brentford after his cardiac arrest and release from Inter.
Thomas Frank knew Eriksen personally from his days coaching in Denmark's youth setup and first put out the feelers about a potential move in December 2021, all the while Brentford had major plans to splash the cash and ensure Premier League survival.
90min reported at the time the top bosses at the Gtech Community Stadium were willing to sign off on a spending spree that could have surpassed £40m. The signing of right-back Vanderson from Gremio was verbally complete, but he had a late change of heart and joined Monaco instead.
If not for Eriksen's arrival - one that all but secured their top-flight status - then Brentford's window would have been defined by failures to secure key targets. They also wanted the aforementioned Johnson and Hull City's Keane Lewis-Potter, eventually signing the latter in the summer.
And then there was Mudryk, at that point a 21-year-old who had played roughly 20 senior Games, a player Brentford were confident of getting over the line.
The Bees held talks with Shakhtar Donetsk in January about a possible move, with the winger admitting his future would be decided by the Ukrainian champions' president more so than himself. He thanked them for their interest and ended up staying put for the time being.
But Brentford were obsessed with Mudryk. They were convinced he was a star in waiting and kept an open dialogue with Shakhtar with a view to a summer move. Frank wanted a dynamic break-the-line winger and Mudryk fit the profile like a glove.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Shakhtar's future on-pitch fortunes were harmed by foreign players allowing to leave on emergency loan and later suspend their contracts. This issue remains contentious to this day - Shakhtar are still hopeful of agreeing a compensation package with Tottenham Hotspur after Manor Solomon left on a free transfer in the most recent window. Mudryk's quality and potential made him a key asset and an all the more expensive one.
Elsewhere across Europe, the market for wingers became ludicrously inflated. Brentford didn't want to do a deal for Mudryk just north of £20m in January but there was no way they could afford Shakhtar's asking price moving forward.
The 2022 summer window came and went without Brentford and Shakhtar being able to agree on a fee, with the latter's assistant sporting director Carlo Nicolini revealing they would hold out for a sum in excess of the €100m (£87m) paid by Manchester United for Antony.
All of a sudden, Brentford had gone from leading suitors of an unknown gem to a 'what if?' story for a player destined for the top.
Arsenal and Chelsea's fight for Mudryk
Europe's elite liked the look of Mudryk, potentially during the group stages of the 2022/23 Champions League in which he shone against Celtic, RB Leipzig and Real Madrid.
During the World Cup break, Arsenal did their homework on the winger, determined to bring in a new forward to help with their Premier League title charge. They talked at length to Shakhtar about a deal and had two bids - the highest worth €70m (£61m) in total - knocked back. The Gunners were confident of finding an agreement, not least because Mudryk made his interest in joining them public.
But they were caught blindsided by Chelsea's advances. The Blues sent a delegation out to Shakhtar's warm weather camp in Turkey in mid-January and swiftly agreed on a fee that could rise to the €100m they long demanded if all add-ons were triggered.
Brentford boss Frank, now an onlooker in the saga, commented at the time: "Looking from the outside, I think Mudryk is a really good player. I think €100m, that's a lot for a player that's showing great, great signs of potential to do more, but maybe that's just the price-tag these days which is insane.
"What now looks like a very, very expensive player even though he's got huge potential, even with his CV I think it's a lot of money. Maybe it's worth all the money in two years' time."
On January 15 2023, Mudryk signed an eight-year contract with Chelsea.
Why Mudryk struggled early on at Chelsea
The talent has always been obvious with Mudryk, but he was a very, very raw prospect. By the time he left Shakhtar, he had played just 44 senior matches for them, a handful more for Ukraine, and outside a hot streak at the start of the 2022/23 season had shown little goal threat in his young career.
His development as a player, and almost certainly as a human being, was hampered by the pandemic and then Russia's invasion of his home country. Just as when fans sometimes fail to comprehend how players struggle to find form after injury, they overlooked how many quick but indescribably major changes were happening to Mudryk's life. And now he was a €100m player.
Mudryk's Chelsea debut from the bench brought life into an otherwise drab 0-0 draw away at Liverpool, coming off the bench to torment James Milner (admittedly, not the quickest of opponents or best of defenders, but still).
That was as good as it ever really got for him in his first few months in England. Both initial head coach Graham Potter and then caretaker boss Frank Lampard stressed the need for patience with Mudryk, who was trying to be a flair player in a Chelsea team that cratered and finished the campaign in 12th place. He would complete a full 90 minutes for them just once before the end of the season, while Brentford fans chanted 'you should have signed for the big club' in the Bees' 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge in April.
Had he gone to Arsenal, Mudryk might still have wilted in the sudden spotlight, particularly as the Gunners' title challenge went down the pan, but at least there he would have been surrounded by better players, part of a functional system and in more of a position to immediately succeed.
And why he's now hitting form
Mauricio Pochettino's appointment as Chelsea head coach in the summer of 2023 was excellent news for Mudryk, who was finally given the chance to work with a project manager who enjoys the challenge of improving young players.
The Blues have continued to falter so far this season, but there's a renewed belief that their arrow is finally ticking upwards again and results will soon match performances. Above all else, Pochettino at least has a semblance of a plan which Mudryk fits into.
"The problem with confidence is we cannot buy it in the supermarket. It is about time. You know how it works in the brain. It is about little by little creating situations that can provide the trust and the confidence and the belief," Pochettino eloquently said in September before recalling a story about his crossbar challenge duels with Mudryk.
90min understands that Pochettino adores Mudryk and is a huge believer in his talent. The signs in recent weeks point to a player making headway in his own development - his touches are cleaner, his movements are sharper and he's more of a goal threat at Premier League-level. The Mudryk we're seeing now is more mature than the one who arrived at Stamford Bridge and far more deserving of his disgustingly cool 'Ukraine Bolt' nickname.
Chelsea and Pochettino will persist with Mudryk, but such an experiment feels far more worthwhile than it did a few months ago. There is an excitement and electricity about Mudryk's game that means he will get more chances and opportunities for years to come if he doesn't piece and knit together his game this season.
Mudryk's next opportunity to have his name up in lights comes at home to Brentford on Saturday afternoon - the first ever meeting between two of his biggest fans in Pochettino and Frank.
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