Mudryk v Pedro: It really is chalk and cheese for Chelsea present and past
By Alessandro Schiavone at Johan Cruijff Arena, Amsterdam
Trying to liken a 23-year old footballer to someone on the verge of blowing 38 candles would be quite farfetched, wouldn’t it? Surely it wouldn't be fair on the veteran of the pair.
For example few would dare draw any comparisons between 37-year old Luis Suarez or Erling Haaland with the latter yet to enter his prime and the Uruguayan long past it.
But when the players in question are Mykhailo Mudryk and Pedro Rodriguez the rules can be rewritten.
While the Ukrainian left-winger, who is third choice behind Jadon Sancho and Pedro Neto in Enzo Maresca's plans, has the look of someone who doesn’t know what he’s doing having completely lost his way since his way since his £88.3m move from Donetsk nearly two years ago, the Spaniard is in the form of his life.
Pedro, who spent five year at Chelsea until 2020, has already bagged seven goals and three assists for Lazio this term. Described as an "older brother" by some of his teammates, he's the focal point of Roberto Baroni's attack thanks to his goals, assists and talismanic all-round displays.
His latest was a peach of a long-range curler in the Biancocelesti's 3-1 blockbuster win at Ajax last Thursday. In the same game he also teed up Loum Tchaouna for the opening goal with a delicious through ball.
Despite winning every possible trophy for club and country, Pedro is defying logic and time and has the hunger of a 23-year-old. The same he had when he gave his monstrous Barcelona side the lead in their 3-1 win over Manchester United at Wembley over 12 years ago.
Yet no amount of goodwill can make someone sing the praises of his Blues successor who not only is playing like a 37-year old who feels arrived in the game and could go down as the biggest flop Stamford Bridge has ever seen. But already looks like he's on a downdward spiral having never been at the top of the game in the first place despite his ridiculous potential. And unless there is a miraculous sting in the tale, which looks unlikely due to his limited game time that doesn’t stretch beyond the UEFA Conference League where low-rent opposition are the order of the day and where it’s not too hard to score a goal, Mudryk looks like throwing it all away.
He finally has to face up to the fact that his once burgeoning career is going nowhere if keeps on sitting on his £97,000 a week salary. A breadcrumb here and one there and things might fizzle out for good. He only needs to ask Anthony Martial.
Hence a January loan move to Olympique Marseille managed by former Shakhtar mentor Roberto De Zerbi, who has never made any secret of how highly he rates him, would likely help him revitalize his career and appetite. Away from the unforgiving British spotlight, he could do some soul-searching, get some regular first-team football, boost his numbers and come back a different player.
And if he lacks inspiration he could do much worse than asking three-loan-reject-turned-Arsenal hero William Saliba for advice or... rewatch Pedro’s Amsterdam masterclass.
The three-time Champions League winner with Barça can also propel the Romans to second in the table with a win over Inter tonight.
At Mudryk's age, the Spaniard tore European football apart alongside Lionel Messi and won the World Cup in South Africa.
It is chalk and cheese, really.
