Bitter Ian Wright slams Chelsea after hijacking Mudryk to Arsenal deal; names who’ll suffer most from reckless Boehly transfers
Ian Wright has criticised Chelsea’s transfer strategy after they signed Arsenal target Mykhaylo Mudryk on a staggering deal that could be worth up to €100m (approx. £88m).
The Gunners were big favourites to sign the Ukrainian stand-out, but despite having personal terms agreed with the winger for over a month, Chelsea swooped in at the last moment.
Mudryk’s was unveiled during Chelsea’s 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Sunday having signed an eight-and-a-half-year contract. It’s understood to be worth in excess of £100,000 per week, which the Sun reported is double Arsenal’s previously agreed terms.
The Gunners legend, who won one league title, two FA Cups, a League Cup and a European Cup Winner’s Cup with the club, voiced his frustration over the fact that Chelsea find it easy to spend huge sums of money on players.
“It’s one of those, unfortunately, that we may have missed out on but Arsenal cannot, cannot compete with what Chelsea can offer a player like that,” Wright told Premier League Productions.
“We’ve seen was obviously desperate to come to Arsenal, it was quite nice to see and Arsenal fans were quite excited about it.
“But what’s happening at Arsenal is that they’re on a road to doing something and building something and they see Mudryk as a player who can come in, the way he plays, his attitude, the way he is, would’ve been perfect for the group.
“But the money they want, Arsenal can’t go there, so you have to move on to the next person simply because we cannot compete with Chelsea.
“Chelsea can come in, offer him three times as much as we can pay him and pay Shakhtar that kind of money for someone who hasn’t played 50 games yet, eight international caps.
“It’s one of those situations, for the boy’s sake, I hope he comes and fulfils the potential people see he has.”
Indeed, Arsenal have already set their sights on an alternative option to Mudryk, with Mikel Arteta now reportedly making Napoli winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia one of his top targets.
However, the Gunners could massively regret missing out on Mudryk if he achieves his sky-high potential in the Premier League.
Boehly creating big problems for Graham Potter at Chelsea?
While there was always going to be a transitional period, Wright makes a convincing point about Chelsea’s current approach to the transfer market.
After all, while they are making high profile signings like Mudryk and Joao Felix, they also tried to sign West Ham’s Michail Antonio on loan, which was an extraordinarily left-field move.
But, the former England striker didn’t stop there, going on to criticise Chelsea’s new owner Todd Boehly for ripping up the previously successful structure at Stamford Bridge, which he claims has caused big problems for Graham Potter.
Wright said: “You do feel for [Potter] simply because when you look at the structure around him at Brighton, the academy, the management team around him, people upstairs, how well run it is to going into a situation like Chelsea’s where there’s a new owner, he’s spending money left, right and centre on everything.
“He’s bringing players in all over the place, and you’re trying to get your players to play in a system they can all understand and build confidence, which is very difficult for him at the moment because of the injuries.
“We’re talking about a club that doesn’t have the patience for that. I cannot understand how the owner can come in, with whatever we think about Chelsea and they way they’ve gone about their business, they’ve won things.
“Why would you completely clear out what you have done before? Why wouldn’t you stay in there, learn from the people who have been in there? Maybe bring in like-minded people to go to the next level but why would you change the model?
“He’s totally changed the model. He’s brought in a manager that’s very inexperienced with the calibre of player, and so what’s happening is he’s trying to get it going at a club that needs it to happen now.
“So the pressure’s building on him, they’re not getting results, they continue to buy players and get injuries. It’s a real mish mash for him, I feel for him.’
Indeed, Potter has struggled to pick up results at Chelsea, who currently sit in tenth place in the table – 10 points away from the top four.
Although, they did pick up a valuable 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on Sunday, so that has eased the pressure on the English coach somewhat.
Additionally, if Mudryk can find his feet quickly in the Premier League, there could be a lot more wins to come for the Blues… something which Wright is clearly rankled by.
