Stats suggest Chelsea saved Arsenal £60m in transfer fee by signing Mykhailo Mudryk as Leandro Trossard proves worth

Jake Lambourne

Mar 1

Arsenal fans feared the worst for their title pursuit when Chelsea pipped them to the signing of Ukraine winger Mykhailo Mudryk.

The Premier League rivals wanted him in January, but it was the Blues that won the battle for the 22-year-old's services, signing him from Shakhtar Donestk in a deal rising to £88million.

Leandro Trossard has impressed for Arsenal since joining from Brighton in January

The same can't be said for Mudryk who has struggled since signing for Chelsea

It led the Premier League table-toppers to bring in Leandro Trossard from Brighton for £27m, with the Belgian quickly becoming a fan favourite at the Emirates.

The 28-year-old has already forced his way into the starting XI after impressing under the tutelage of Mikel Arteta.

Whereas Mudryk, who is the top-flight's fastest player this season, is yet to hit the heights expected of him in west London.

And it appears Arsenal got the better deal, saving the club over £60m.

Both players have started twice in the Premier League so far, with Trossard appearing six times compared to Mudryk's five outings since his January transfer.

It is Trossard who has had the greater impact for his new side, having already chipped in with a goal and an assist.

Trossard has been more influential than Mudryk since their January transfers

He opened his account for Arsenal in the 1-1 draw against Brentford on February 11, before having a second goal controversially ruled out in Saturday's 1-0 win away at Leicester.

Mudryk is yet provide a goal contribution for the Blues in the Premier League, while also drawing a blank in the Champions League against Borussia Dortmund.

Trossard has registered six shots on goal, with two going on target, with Mudryk failing to hit the target from any of his three attempts.

And Mudryk is yet to carve out a single chance for his Chelsea teammates, while Trossard has presented four goalscoring opportunities to the Arsenal squad - including Gabriel Martinelli's winner against the Foxes.

Trossard has chipped in with a goal and an assist from his six Premier League outings

Mudryk is yet have a shot on target while also failing to create a chance

Mudryk bout to go 007 soonpic.twitter.com/sAVoVSZFLX

— Nz (@Nz_ftbl) February 26, 2023

They are stats that have seen Gooners excitedly talk up the prospect on Twitter of seeing Mudryk become '007' - zero goals, zero assists in seven games.

And Trossard also also blows him out of the water in terms of touches with 152 compared to 113.

From the former Genk man's 152 touches, 18 have come in the opposition's box, while Mudryk has had just 12 touches in the opposing penalty area.

Despite playing a game less, Mudryk has lost the ball [38] more times than Trossard [37].

That works out to Mudryk being dispossessed 34 per cent of the time from being in control of the ball, compared to the 24 per cent lost by Trossard.

Mudryk arrived to England with a reputation of being a fearsome dribbler, but the stats haven't backed that up.

He has completed just two of his dribbles, with Trossard recording over triple his figure [seven].

Yet another stat Trossard beats Mudryk in is his passing accuracy, with his 84.4 per cent drastically higher than the latter's 79 per cent.

Chelsea fans had hoped Mudryk's signing would increase their attacking threat as they struggle to convert chances this term.

Trossard has started the last two top-flight matches for the Gunners

But his expected goals (xG) is just 0.43 compared to Trossard's 0.92.

Of course the form of Arsenal and Chelsea need to be taken into account, with Graham Potter's side tenth in the table.

Chelsea have won just one out of their 11 games in all competitions in 2023, with the club a whopping 26 points behind Arsenal.

Mudryk is just one of a number of Chelsea players that have failed to impress this term following owner Todd Boehly's scattergun approach in the transfer market.

A team in transition, the Chelsea squad have hardly had any time to gel with the American billionaire investing around £600m on 17 new players while getting to grips with Potter's style of play.

Trossard meanwhile has hit the ground running having come into a settled team high on confidence, with all of the squad fully understanding Arteta's approach to matches.

But with how quickly he has slotted seamlessly into the side, Arteta - and Arsenal fans - will be breathing a sigh of relief they brought him instead of Mudryk in what would have been a club-record move.