Heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk justifies Mykhaylo Mudryk’s exorbitant price tag for Chelsea
Oleksandr Usyk, the heavyweight boxing champion, has backed up the high price tag of Mykhaylo Mudryk, who joined Chelsea in the January transfer window.
Despite Ukraine’s sluggish start at Chelsea, Usyk thinks Mudryk will win the Ballon d’Or in the future for Chelsea.
Chelsea and Arsenal engaged in a transfer battle for the recruitment of Mudryk, who was on the verge of joining the Gunners before Chelsea hijacked their deal and bought the attacker for £88.5 million.
This also raised questions, given how the Blues were able to acquire the former Shakhtar Donetsk forward for such a heavy fee.
Nevertheless, Mudryk has struggled to impress since moving to Stamford Bridge and has also been benched for two straight games. But on Saturday, in Chelsea’s 3-1 victory against Leicester City, the 22-year-old finally had an involvement in goal as he assisted Mateo Kovacic.
The boxing champion has however supported Mudryk’s expensive price tag as he compared his worth to others and asserted that everything has become expensive in the market. He also backed him to win another Ballon d’Or award for Ukraine after Oleg Blokhin and Igor Belanov (USSR) and Andriy Shevchenko.
Usyk told Parimatch, (h/t Football.London), that he is deserving of such substantial money and that he has witnessed Mudryk play for under-18 or under-19 teams, and he further said:
“No, it [Mudryk’s transfer fee] doesn’t surprise me]. Everything has risen. Prices and money are a little higher than they were. I think he’s worth a little more than €100 million [£88.5 million] because I’ve been watching this guy.”
“I saw him for the first time playing for the under-18s or under-19s team. The hairstyle that catches your eye is the tattoos. I mean, he was playing, and I was watching him, and I liked him. It seems to me that this guy can bring the fourth Ballon d’Or to Ukraine.”
Mudryk is still young and has a long road ahead of him, it might be somewhat exaggerated to state that he is worth more than what we spent, but he is a promising player and can find his footing in the Premier League once he has become accustomed to the league.
It is true that players’ prices have increased in the market; especially, young players who have achieved success at a young age or who burst onto the scene quickly are now valued very highly.
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It would be premature to assume that he would win the Ballon d’Or since you must be consistent throughout the entire season and put on a strong showing across all competitions. Moreover, that would include performing better than other world-class players such as Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland among others.
Yet if he does, it will be the first time that a player from the club has taken home the prestigious Ballon d’Or, as the only player who came close to winning the prize while on our payroll was Jorginho who came third in 2021.