Chelsea star Mykhaylo Mudryk became the fastest player in the Premier League this season just minutes after making his Blues debut.
The Ukrainian winger joined the London outfit in an £87m move from Shakhtar Donetsk earlier in the window as he became the latest addition of the Todd Boehly era. He was granted his first appearance for his new employers at the weekend in Chelsea ’s trip to Anfield to face Liverpool.
The 22-year-old initially started on the bench but came on in place of Lewis Hall midway through the second period on Merseyside. He enjoyed a promising start to life as a Chelsea player as despite failing to get on the scoresheet, he still managed to show a number of bright touches and went close to open his scoring account for the Blues.
Mudryk also broke a Premier League record for the current season in the process despite having only been on the pitch for just over half an hour. The Ukrainian wideman hit a top speed of 36.63km per hour as he chased a through ball, only being beaten to it by Liverpool's Ibrahima Konate who had a head start on him.
That saw him become the quickest player to have played in the Premier League this season, taking the title from Everton's Anthony Gordon who had clocked 36.61kmph. Liverpool's Darwin Nunez is third on 36.53kmph, ahead of Erling Haaland (36.22kmph) and Denis Zakaria (36.09kmph).
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It remains to be seen whether Mudryk can hold onto the title between now and the end of the season but Graham Potter is expecting more from the Ukrainian winger having been left impressed with his debut. Speaking after the full-time whistle at Anfield, he said: “That was really good.
“He’s only been with us a couple of days. He will only get better the more he is with us, and the more we understand each other, but promising signs.
“He will get supporters off their seats. His dribbling action is really high. He knows where the goal is.
“We had 45 minutes as his maximum, ideally around 35 minutes. We felt it as the right time to put him in, he is a fit boy and has trained a lot. He’s not played since November so it would have been a risk to play him from the start. I am happy for him to get his first minutes and start his career with us.”
Mudryk now has a bit of time to wait for his second Chelsea outing. Having been eliminated from the FA Cup by Manchester City, the Blues now have a break this coming weekend before their showdown with London rivals Fulham next weekend.
