Former Chelsea winger Joe Cole has named a current Blues player who has an ‘outstanding natural talent’.
With all the due praise that Cole Palmer has been getting lately and the incredible performances he has been putting in since arriving from Manchester City in the summer, you’d be forgiven for automatically assuming any pundit, fan, manager etc was speaking about Palmer when they say a current Chelsea player is an outstanding natural talent. But on this occasion at least, Joe Cole was speaking about someone else.
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And that man is Mykhailo Mudryk off the back of his nice little cameo role off the bench for Chelsea on Monday night, helping them beat Newcastle United 3-2 with a beautiful goal in the second half.
Cole believes that Mudryk actually does some things better than Palmer, and that there is a real player in there somewhere. Whilst also admitting that Mudryk needs to improve, Cole has offered some high praise here.
Cole told Premier League productions (10:19pm, 11 March): “When Cole Palmer signed for the club there was a lot of eyebrows raised but he is so intelligent. When you watch Mudryk it is like a young player who excites you but with Palmer, he could be 31 not 21. The fans here absolutely love him.
“There is a player in Mudryk somewhere. When you watch him live you can see the scope for him to get better. The stuff Cole Palmer is so good at, Mudryk can do better. He needs to improve but he has such outstanding natural talent.”