Eden Hazard is no longer playing in the Premier League, but Gus Poyet thinks his successor might be.
“Explosive, direct, very, very quick,” says Poyet, who is talking about Mykhailo Mudryk, the Ukraine winger Chelsea signed from Shakhtar Donetsk for £89m in January.
Mudryk is yet to score in his first seven Chelsea games but Poyet tells Standard Sport: “He’s the type of player that needs to make a difference.
“The job Mudryk will have in the future is what Eden Hazard did at Chelsea — he’s that type of player and the potential is there. Ninety-nine per cent of the time, you don’t sign that quantity of players in January. That was the biggest surprise for me.
“If we analyse the players they bought, there is definitely a plan. They are players that have been signed for the future. The new message is patience.”
Premier League clubs spent a total of £815m in the January transfer window — and Chelsea’s spending amounted to a colossal £323m of that.
“The whole world is taking advantage of the Premier League,” says Poyet, who played for Chelsea from 1997 to 2001. “Clubs all over the world know the financial power is in the Premier League.”
Poyet says of Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly: “When you are the owner of a club and you’ve got money, you buy whoever you want.
“Enzo Fernandez is a terrific player. The transfer of Jorginho [to Arsenal] was something planned. Who better in that position after the World Cup than Enzo? He was one of the revelations of the World Cup, without doubt. And Joao Felix is a player I absolutely love. He’s a terrific player.”
Graham Potter was sacked by Chelsea on Sunday after winning just 12 of 31 matches in charge.
Bruno Saltor has taken over on an interim basis and will be in charge for Tuesday’s home game against Liverpool.
Chelsea are languishing down in 11th in the Premier League.
“For a team like Chelsea, I don’t believe in transition years,” says the Uruguayan. “When they go a year without winning a trophy, it doesn’t matter what they did the year before. No trophy and no Champions League football would be a very bad season for Chelsea.
“Every time you aim for less than that, you are not part of a winning mentality.”
