Chelsea told they'll 'create the next Mo Salah or Kevin De Bruyne' if they sell one player
Chelsea have been warned that they are at risk of having another Mo Salah or Kevin De Bruyne situation if they sell Mykhailo Mudryk.
Mudryk signed for the Blues from Shakhtar Donetsk in January for a fee of £88.5 million and had a promising debut against Liverpool at Anfield.
However, the 22-year-old has struggled to do the business at Stamford Bridge and is still waiting for his first goal for the club in 23 appearances.
But Chelsea legend Pat Nevin is convinced the Ukrainian has the quality to be a top player and believes his former club need to be careful with him given the situation going back on in his home country.
Mudryk, now wearing the No.10 shirt, received a standing ovation when he was replaced by Raheem Sterling in the 68th minute during his latest outing against Brighton.
And the impressive display was enough for Nevin to claim that Mudryk could follow both Salah and De Bruyne in rebuilding their careers away from west London in the event that Chelsea lose patience.
"Mykhailo Mudryk is phenomenal and will come good - Chelsea cannot risk him being another Salah or De Bruyne," the 6-year-old told OLBG,
"There's a reason why Arsenal wanted Mudryk - he's phenomenal. His pace is ridiculous and so are his skills.
"He had different problems to everyone else as he was a Ukrainian lad coming into a new country.
"There was also a massive transfer fee hanging over him, though the pressure is slightly off now due to the other fees Chelsea have paid.
"I think he has the potential to be a great forward and a great creator.
"He came into a side that wasn't playing well, but he didn't make it easy for himself. His numbers last season were not good."
Mudryk is blessed with impressive abilities like frightening pace and dribbling but has been unable to convert that into goal contributions.
He did come into a struggling Chelsea side in the middle of last-season, having previously been strongly linked with Arsenal.
And Nevin is pleading with the club to be patient given their recent history of players 'flopping' but turning it around in a different environment.
He added: "Chelsea know better than anyone that if you let a player go, they can be world-class somewhere else.
"He came in in January, which is a tough time for players to arrive. It's early days this season, and I still have great hopes for Mudryk when the team starts clicking.
"That could be later this season or next season. If Chelsea did cut their losses, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him shine somewhere else."
Chelsea finally got back to winning ways against Brighton courtesy of Nicolas Jackson's strike, which set up a Carabao Cup fourth round tie with Blackburn Rovers.
They take on Fulham in a west London derby on Monday at Craven Cottage.