Philadelphia (AFP) – Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca said Thursday he still maintained trust in Mykhailo Mudryk after the Ukrainian winger was charged by England’s Football Association with violating anti-doping rules, but confirmed the club were looking to strengthen in his position.
“‘Mischa’ is a Chelsea player. As long as he is a Chelsea player, I will trust all the Chelsea players,” Maresca told reporters in Philadelphia ahead of his team’s Club World Cup meeting with Flamengo on Friday. Mudryk has not played for Chelsea since November 28 following his provisional suspension by the FA for an “adverse finding in a routine urine test” in December. He could face a potential ban of up to four years under FA rules.
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Mudryk is not with the Chelsea squad for the tournament in the United States and Maresca said he has had no contact with the player since the UEFA Conference League final win over Real Betis in Poland late last month. “The last time I spoke with ‘Mischa’ was in Poland and he was quite good. Since that day I have not spoken with him so I don’t know how he is now, but for sure in the next days, in the next weeks, we are going to have contact with him.”
Mudryk was signed from Shakhtar Donetsk in January 2023 for 100 million euros ($115m) but his time at Chelsea has been dogged by inconsistency. He has scored just 10 goals in 73 appearances in all competitions for the Blues.
Wary of Flamengo, Maresca revealed that he is hoping to sign a new wide attacker before the start of the Premier League season. “We had already one entire season almost without ‘Mischa’, last season, and we tried to find different solutions with some of the academy players, like Tyrique (George), but we are going to decide to go for a winger,” Maresca said. “It is quite clear that it is a position we need to improve.”
Chelsea can expect to face challenging conditions on Friday against Flamengo, with heat and humidity rising in Philadelphia in recent days and the match starting at 2:00 pm local time. The game is likely to be key in deciding who tops Group D with both teams fresh from winning their opening match at the tournament — Chelsea got the better of Los Angeles FC in Atlanta while Flamengo defeated Esperance.
Maresca said the conditions could favour the Brazilian giants and added that he would make several changes to his line-up — the likes of Enzo Fernandez, Malo Gusto and new signing Liam Delap are among those pushing for starts. “It is not easy because of the temperature. This is the reason why we are going to try to rotate players,” the coach added. “Unfortunately for us, Brazilian teams are more used to playing with this kind of temperature, but it doesn’t matter, we will try to do our best and win the game.”
Flamengo, coached by former Atletico Madrid and Chelsea player Filipe Luis, are top of the Brazilian league and have lost only one of their last 16 games. “They are a very good team, they play nice football, it is nice to watch them,” Maresca said. “Like any Brazilian team, they are full of quality, technical players, and we will need to be at our best to win the game.”
Filipe Luis, who came up against Maresca when both played in Spain, said he had “amazing memories” of his time at Chelsea after making 26 appearances under Jose Mourinho in 2014/15. “I had the opportunity to win the Premier League with Mourinho and also the League Cup, so two titles in one season, and I was really happy there,” he said. “I didn’t play enough, especially because Cesar Azpilicueta was amazing that season and didn’t let me play. It was an amazing experience to play in the Premier League for Chelsea and I have a lot of friends there in the club and the city, so it will be a special moment for me.”
© 2024 AFP
