Roberto De Zerbi said it plainly: "I know exactly what he can bring to our team." That confidence matters, because right now Mykhailo Mudryk needs someone who believes in him more than the rest of English football does.
The Ukrainian winger has joined Tottenham on a season-long loan from Chelsea — a move that is less a transfer story and more a second-chance story. Mudryk hasn't played since November 2024, suspended for four years by the FA after an adverse test for meldonium, a prohibited substance detected while on international duty. His appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport was ultimately resolved by a change in WADA procedures: the same test result today wouldn't even trigger charges. So he's cleared. And now he's a Spurs player, at least for this season.
De Zerbi's history with Mudryk changes the calculation
This isn't a blind punt by Tottenham. De Zerbi managed Mudryk at Shakhtar Donetsk in 2021-22, the season that put the winger on Europe's radar in the first place. He knows the player's ceiling — the pace, the directness, the ability to win one-on-ones that made Chelsea spend €100 million on him in January 2023 on an eight-and-a-half-year contract.
That contract is now one of football's more awkward financial realities. Mudryk played inconsistently in his time at Stamford Bridge even before the doping ban — never quite justifying the fee, never quite settling. Chelsea offloading him on loan is less a tactical decision and more damage limitation.
Tottenham, meanwhile, have spent north of $400 million this window and are stacked with wide options. Savio arrived from Manchester City just two weeks ago. Adding Mudryk into that mix is a low-risk, high-upside move — if he rediscovers his form, Spurs look smart. If he doesn't, they walk away at the end of the season.
What this means for Mudryk's market value — and Chelsea's problem
For anyone tracking Chelsea's squad value and long-term wage structure, Mudryk on loan doesn't solve anything. He's still on their books, still on that historic contract, still carrying the weight of a fee that almost no winger in world football has justified. If Tottenham can't unlock him either, Chelsea's options narrow considerably.
At 25, Mudryk isn't finished. But he's carrying eight months of inactivity, a doping case that damaged his reputation regardless of the legal outcome, and the psychological weight of being football's most expensive underperformer at his position. De Zerbi is the right manager to rebuild him — tactically demanding, but someone who has seen the upside firsthand.
"I will demand a lot from Misha," De Zerbi said. In north London, that might finally be exactly what Mudryk needs to hear.
