Chelsea's recruitment strategy has left plenty to be desired and more to be pleaded for since the £4bn takeover from an American consortium led by Todd Boehly in 2022.
The splurging, scattergun approach has gone down like a lead balloon and after failing to qualify for European football last season, slumping to a 12th-place Premier League finish, the Blues have made gains and now perch in seventh with three matches left of the 2023/24 campaign.
There have been a host of extreme-cost deals and it's hard to say that any have been bona fide successes yet – barring, of course, the extraordinary talent that is Cole Palmer.
Palmer 'only' cost an initial £40m last summer though, which marks less than half the outlay that was parted with for Mykhaylo Mudryk's signature in a rather ridiculous set of circumstances.
Mudryk's market value in 2024
The jury's still out but it is leaning toward a particular direction. Mudryk arrived at Stamford Bridge to voluble fanfare in January 2023 after Chelsea hijacked Arsenal's bid and landed the Ukrainian for a £89m fee.
He had the world at his feet and had drawn comparisons to Lionel Messi and Neymar Jr. for his style of play but a return of six goals and four assists from 56 outings for Chelsea hardly speaks of money well spent.
1.
Moises Caicedo
Brighton & Hove Albion
£115m
2.
Enzo Fernandez
SL Benfica
£106m
3.
Romelu Lukaku
Inter Milan
£97.5m
4.
Mykhaylo Mudryk
Shakhtar Donetsk
£89m
5.
Kai Havertz
Bayer Leverkusen
£76m
Moreover, the fleet-footed winger has been sapped of the confidence that fuelled his natural, athletic attributes, ranking among the top 12% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for progressive carries but only the top 24% for successful take-ons per 90, as per FBref.
Analyst Raj Chohan branded the 23-year-old as "raw, immature" and lacking in "development", with such factors precluding success of any measure of note.
As such, that erstwhile £89m figure is not reflective of Mudryk's current market value, with Football Transfers crunching the numbers and revealing that he is currently worth just £21m.
Grim reading. Mudryk's £89m tag highlights the importance of striking while the iron's hot, and Chelsea must now take a leaf from Shakhtar's book and cash in on striker Armando Broja, who is worth over two times Mudryk's value.
Why Chelsea must cash in on Armando Broja
Chelsea's transfer strategy has not been great but Broja is not part of that problem, joining the renowned Cobham Academy aged eight and going from strength to strength within the youth ranks.
Broja missed the majority of the 2022/23 season with an ACL injury and he started just six Premier League matches under Pochettino, scoring once, before being shipped out on loan at the current campaign's midpoint.
Since arriving at Craven Cottage with Fulham, the Albania international has only featured seven times in the top flight, each time as a second-half substitute. He's yet to score.
Despite this, the 22-year-old is a talented centre-forward, described as "athletic and powerful" by talent scout Jacek Kulig, with qualities that would interest a range of Premier League clubs.
He's already showcased his ability at the highest level in England, enjoying a commanding breakthrough campaign out on loan with Southampton in 2021/22 that led The Athletic's Jacob Tanswell to hail the "animal" of a striker, blessed with a range of skills beyond simple goalscoring.
Indeed, as per FBref, Broja ranks among the top 1% of positional peers across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for pass completion, the top 2% for successful take-ons and the top 9% for blocks per 90.
Chelsea are aware of his talent but still hope to cash in on their homegrown product, with The Sun even reporting that the west London outfit are preparing for Broja to be the first player out of the door this summer with a multi-faceted rebuild being targetted.
It is understood that German side Borussia Dortmund, who recently defeated Paris Saint-Germain to advance to the Champions League final, are already engaged in negotiations with Chelsea transfer bosses.
The Blues are adamant that the 6 foot 3 centre-forward is worth about £50m but this lofty figure has so far deterred potential suitors and the Yellow Wall, while eager to bring Broja to their turf, are reluctant to part with such a fee, instead proposing an outlay nearer to £25m, half of Chelsea's request.
Given that he doesn't have a long-term future at the club, fighting tooth and nail to reach an agreement with Dortmund is essential, especially with ambitions to sign high-profile new forwards such as Victor Osimhen, who has scored 76 goals from 131 matches for Napoli.
Even if Chelsea were to acquiesce and accept Dortmund's devalued proposal of £25m, Broja would still command a prettier penny than Mudryk's current worth on the market.
Without question, Chelsea have fallen by the wayside since momentously triumphing in the Champions League final against Manchester City in 2021, but one thing you can't fault the owners for is a lack of ambition.
Broja is contracted to Stamford Bridge until 2028 but with the cogs shifting it's hard to imagine him cementing a regular starting berth that reflects his promising skill set.
The kitchen sink must be thrown at convincing Dortmund to do a deal, lest Broja falls deeper into obscurity and sees his value plummet, as has happened with Mudryk.
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