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Jake Stokes

Mykhailo Mudryk brutally slammed by US influencer Joey Swoll for posting gym-goer on Instagram

American social media and fitness influencer Joey Swoll has slammed Mykhailo Mudryk for filming an elderly man in the gym. The 22-year-old winger has struggled to impress at Chelsea since he joined in January as part of a deal worth £88.5million, including add-ons.

Mudryk was first linked with a move to Arsenal in December, only for the Blues to swoop in and hijack negotiations in the eleventh hour. Initial talks between the Gunners and Shakhtar were thought to have progressed well before a bid was tabled.

Arsenal remained in contact with the Ukrainian side and, at one stage, there was even confidence that they would win the race for his signature. But, then, Chelsea matched the north Londoners' bid, which was revealed to be a better structured offer — just hours later Mudryk was unveiled to supporters at Stamford Bridge.

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Despite having shown glimpses of great promise, he's struggled to integrate himself into a disjointed environment at Cobham training ground. While Mudryk is yet to find the net for Chelsea, he's only ever completed 90 minutes once in the Premier League.

Starting just six games and being brought off the bench in eight, the Ukraine international is yet to be given a run of games to get him legs under the table. So, determined to right his wrongs, Mudryk is often seen posting images and video of himself working hard in the gym.

But, on Tuesday, he filmed of a gym-goer, who had part of his bottom on show while using a rowing machine. Mudryk shared the clip to his 1.4m Instagram followers.

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The Chelsea winger has been subject to plenty of criticism on social media since, angering one person in particular – a fitness and social media influencer called Joey Swoll, who prides himself on gym and body positivity.

He said: "So you see that man at the gym working hard trying to better himself with a trainer, he’s in an embarrassing situation, yes, he’s a little exposed, and you decide 'hey - let me take a video of it to post on social media to make fun of him all for attention' - Really?

"[…] You’re a professional soccer player and you play for Chelsea in the Premier League, is this how you want to represent yourself and your team?"

Earlier this month, Frank Lampard explained why Mudryk has struggled to impress since joining Chelsea. The caretaker Blues boss said: "There are things that maybe don’t get seen behind the scenes that don’t relate straight onto the pitch because we are hoping Mudryk will be a great player for this club over the years.

"In this short period it might be flashes of that you see but he will have a lot to learn about the game which is very, very normal for developing players of course. With wingers, you feel, do they know the role of the winger defensively or do they need time to learn that role defensively.

"If you don’t [make decisions that way], then you might not win football matches. I take those decisions on more footballing attributes than the motivational one. In a way, I expect everyone to be motivated here and I expect that to be the case."

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