Maresca must upgrade on “complete” Chelsea man

One position that is key in Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea system, is the wingers, pinning fullbacks high and wide, looking to provide the team with output and being isolated in 1v1 scenarios as often as possible.

However, the Italian has lost his most productive wide option to injury, Noni Madueke, who has netted eight times this season, also providing four assists and totalling 1,653 minutes played.

This leaves Maresca with just Pedro Neto and Jadon Sancho as his senior wide options, as the Blues also lost another winger due to suspension back in December last year.

Mykhailo Mudryk’s time at Chelsea

Chelsea announced in December 2024, that Ukrainian winger, Mykhailo Mudryk had been provisionally suspended by the FA after testing positive for a banned substance.

This came after making 15 appearances for the Blues this season, scoring three goals, providing five assists and totalling 849 minutes played.

Whilst a large majority of Mudryk’s minutes came in the UEFA Conference League (523 minutes), losing the 24-year-old has still affected Maresca’s squad, as they are now left with just two natural senior wingers after Madueke’s injury.

The Blues signed Mudryk in January 2023, with an initial fee of around £62m with up to a further £27m in bonuses. The Ukrainian is now valued at €38.5m (£31.8m) according to Football Transfers, but that is still more than a certain other Chelsea man…

The Chelsea star who’s now worth less than Mudryk

Reece James was once valued as high as £57.4m according to FootballTtransfers, but over the past few seasons, his value has taken a real hit, following plenty of injury troubles which have kept him off the pitch for prolonged spells.

Chelsea’s top ten player values
Player	Value (£)
Cole Palmer	£95.6m
Moises Caicedo	£66.8m
Enzo Fernández	£61.5m
Nicolas Jackson	£59.4m
Pedro Neto	£51.3m
Christopher Nkunku	£49.1m
Levi Colwill	£45.8m
Roméo Lavia	£44.8m
Noni Madueke	£43.4m
Mykhailo Mudryk	£31.8m
Stats taken from Football Transfers

The Chelsea captain has managed to make ten appearances for the club this season, scoring one goal, providing one assist, contributing to one clean sheet and totalling 556 minutes played.

The 25-year-old has suffered from reoccurring hamstring problems since 2020, missing a total of 131 games since 2019/20, when James was first introduced to the first-team under Frank Lampard.

When James is fully fit, there is no doubt about his quality, with Kyle Walker even labelling him the “complete” player and revealing why he believes James is the best right-back in the world.

However, having only made 168 appearances for the club, scoring 12 goals, providing 23 assists and totalling 11,503 minutes, his availability will always remain a concern.

James is now valued at €37.4m (£30.9m) according to Football Transfers, which means he isn’t seen as one of Chelsea’s top ten most valuable players, despite being the highest-paid player at the club, as well as being the club captain.

With Chelsea’s new wage structure aiming to pay players based on their value to the side, James could come under consideration if his injury troubles continue, as to whether the Blues need to focus their resources elsewhere.

That likely wouldn’t go down well with Chelsea fans, as James is one of the only academy graduates remaining to have successfully come through the system and become a fully fledged first-teamer – yet if his injury woes remain, an upgrade may be needed.