Mykhaylo Mudryk Profile

Chelsea’s attacking midfielder Mykhaylo Mudryk is one of the youngest players to play for Shakhtar Donetsk and is also the most expensive Ukrainian player of all time.

Mudryk won the Ukrainian Premier League with Donetsk in the 2019/20 season and spent the first half of the season with their league-winning side in 2022/23. This adds to the 2018/19 Ukrainian Cup he won in his debut campaign.

Mudryk failed to score during his first half-season in the Premier League, but with an eight-and-a-half-year contract at Stamford Bridge, there is still plenty of time.

Mudryk's early football career

Born in 2001, Mudryk signed for Metalist Kharkiv in 2010 before joining Dnipro Academy four years later.

After a successful couple of seasons, Mudryk caught the eye of Ukrainian giants Shakhtar Donetsk, where he played in their academy for two more years. He made his debut in the first team in 2018, aged 17, in a Ukrainian Cup match against Olimpik Donetsk.

Mudryk initially struggled to get minutes on the pitch in Donetsk, so he was loaned out to Ukrainian Premier League club Arsenal Kyiv in February 2019 for the rest of the season. He played ten games but failed to score.

In the summer of 2020, Mudryk was loaned out again by Shakhtar and joined Desna Chernihiv, where he stayed for four months. He made 11 appearances for the club, but again failed to score. However, he did help secure them a place in the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round.

Donetsk breakthrough and move to Chelsea

In the 2021/22 season, Mudryk was given more opportunities under the reign of Roberto De Zerbi, who had a reputation for trusting young players.

De Zerbi believed in Mudryk's talent and had a meeting with him, after which Mudryk developed a new mentality and began to perform on the pitch. De Zerbi considered him one of the best young talents in the world, adding "if I don't bring him to a high level, I will consider it a personal defeat."

Shakhtar Donetsk's Mykhaylo Mudryk against Celtic

In August 2021, Mudryk made his Champions League debut against Monaco. He came on in the 82nd minute and provided a cross in the 114th minute, which bounced off Ruben Aguilar and into the back of the net. This secured a 3-2 aggregate win for Shakhtar and booked them a place in the Champions League group stage.

Mudryk scored his first goal for Shakhtar a month later against Mariupol and was named the club's player of the month in both November and December.

On February 24, 2022, the Ukrainian league was suspended due to the Russian invasion. Mudryk finished the season with two goals and nine assists.

Ukrainian football resumed at the start of the 2022/23 campaign, with Mudryk scoring his first-ever Champions League goal against RB Leipzig in a 4-1 win. He also provided two assists. His rich vein of form continued throughout the year, ending with seven goals and providing six assists in 12 matches. These performances saw him named Shakhtar Player of the Year.

In January 2023, Mudryk signed for Chelsea with a massive eight-and-a-half-year contract for an initial fee of £62 million. This made him the most expensive Ukrainian player of all time and the most expensive player in Shakhtar Donetsk's history, surpassing Fred's transfer fee in 2018.

However, Mudryk has yet to live up to the expectation of his price tag as he has failed to score for the Blues. With eight years left on his contract though, the Ukrainian still has time to find his form under new head coach Mauricio Pochettino.

Mykhailo Mudryk's international career

Mudryk played for the Ukraine National Under-17 football team in 2017 and 2018. He then played for the Under-19s the following year, featuring in 12 matches and scoring five times. He graduated to the Under-21 side, playing 16 times and netting thrice. On September 7, 2021, he scored the winning goal against Armenia with a fantastic free kick.

Mudryk was called up for a training camp for the senior Ukraine national team in April 2022. He made his competitive debut on June 1 against Scotland in a match which they won 3-1.

Ukraine international Mykhaylo Mudryk playing against Germany

After a poor second half of the season with Chelsea, Mudryk took the initiative and decided to be part of Ukraine's Under-21 team for the Euro U21 Championship in Georgia and Romania.

Mykhailo Mudryk's personal life

Mykhailo Mudryk's parents are Inna Nikolaevna Mudryk and Petrovych Mudryk. Both have played a massive part in helping him throughout his footballing career.

Mudryk is an Orthodox Christian and frequently carries around religious icons to matches as he has openly said how important faith has been to him in his life.

Close friends and families nickname him "Misha", which means someone who resembles God. The nickname is very common in Ukraine and is often given to young children.

Mykhailo Mudryk's net worth

Mudryk's net worth is said to be around $7.52 million.

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