Mykhaylo Mudryk was unveiled to the Chelsea fans during the win against Crystal Palace (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
Graham Potter says fans should be excited by the signing of Mykhailo Mudryk after Chelsea successfully hijacked Arsenal’s transfer for the talented winger.
Chelsea officially confirmed the arrival of Mudryk on Sunday during their 1-0 win over Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge.
The 22-year-old had seemed destined to join Arsenal after months of being linked with the Emirates, only for the Blues to swoop in at the last minute with a sensational €100million (£88.5m) offer for the Shakhtar Donetsk star.
Potter’s side are in desperate need of attacking reinforcements given the lack of form and fitness issues that have plagued Chelsea’s forwards this season, and the manager was delighted to welcome the Ukraine international to west London.
Speaking just after the Crystal Place win, he said: ‘He [Mudryk] is a young player with exciting quality in the final third.
‘He is very fast and direct and I think our supporters will really like him.’
Pressed for more details in his post-match press conference, Potter added: ‘You’re never surprised in the transfer window because things happen when you don’t expect them to happen.
Graham Potter is looking forward to working with Mudryk (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
‘In terms of what he brings, he’s a player with a big, exciting future. One vs one, he’s very direct, he attacks the back-line, can go into wide areas but also affects the goal.’
As well as being Chelsea’s second most expensive signing ever, behind Romelu Lukaku, Mudryk has also been handed a whooping and unprecedented eight-and-a-half year contract at Stamford Bridge.
This falls in line with chairman Todd Boehly’s desire to run the club in a more ‘American’ way, and it was a decision that Potter seemed to have little say in.
Kai Havertz scored the winner for Chelsea as they beat Palace on Sunday (Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
‘I’m the head coach and, as you know, I’ve had enough to worry about before thinking about contract lengths,’ the 47-year-old said.
‘I’ll leave that to the club and what’s right for the club. I’ll try to support as best I can. I’m looking forward to working with him. If I’m here for the remainder of his contract, then we’ll all be happy.’
This brings Chelsea’s total expenditure for the season up to a staggering £377m but Potter also suggested that he doesn’t expect to see any more signings this January.
‘We’ve got to be, not necessarily careful, but you’ve got to understand we’ve got ten or eleven players unavailable and you can’t just sign players to replace those because then you’d have a squad of 30 and that is a problem.’
‘So you have to do the right thing and look at what the right solutions are. Sometimes they are not aligned completely as you’d like them because the January window is complicated. But always my job is to try to support the club, make the right decisions, and help the team improve.’
MORE : Kai Havertz praises young Chelsea teammates after narrow win over Crystal Palace
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‘I think our supporters will really like him.’