Controversial French team keen on loan for £88.5m winger – when Chelsea might accept

Chelsea’s waves of purchases over the last few years have left them with a big squad, with a number of players out on loan at any one time, and plenty more on the chopping block ready to be sold if a good offer comes in.

One major purchase that the sporting directors must hugely regret already is Mykhailo Mudryk. The winger has been so poor, showing just a handful of bright moments since making a vastly overpriced £88.5m move from Shakhtar Donetsk in January 2023.

Various managers have tried to make it work with him, but mostly they’ve come to the same conclusion – leaving him on the bench is the best move. He’s played just 61 minutes in the Premier League this season, and we don’t see him earning a starting spot back anytime soon.

Chelsea stuck with a problem of their own making

The problem is that having paid so much for him, there’s no way we can sell him without taking a big loss that hurts our accounting. But the rumours about teams being interested have begun, and we don’t expect them to stop until he’s either in the team or out of the club.

CaughtOffside today claim that Marseille, who are becoming something of a project team full of interesting players and cast-offs, are keen on the winger. They are keen on a January loan move.

It rather depends how Enzo Maresca configures this team, but if Mudryk continues to be this far from the starting XI and Marseille make a really convincing offer on wages, it’s not impossible.

As it stands, Mudryk looks most likely to follow a Romelu Lukaku-like pattern: lots of loans while his book value gradually drops, then a cheap sale out of the back door, hoping nobody notices what a catastrophe it all was.