Leeds loan deal for Chelsea star back on the table – but Blues need to be convinced

Chelsea’s priority for Mykhailo Mudryk is to get him playing again, and they aren’t sure about Leeds as a destination.

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Mykhailo Mudryk’s future wasn’t something we were expecting to be discussing this summer – the winger was going to be banned for the foreseeable future, as far as anyone knew.

But the sudden news that his doping punishment had been reduced and that he was immediately going to be joining up with Chelsea brought him back into the picture. After almost two years without football, the priority is of course to get him playing. He desperately needs minutes, and that’s the Blues’ number one concern as they decide where to send him on loan.

According to sources like Fabrizio Romano, that’s why Leeds’ interest was rebuffed at first. Mudryk is going to be very rusty for a while, and Chelsea weren’t convinced that he would be able to force his way into the Whites’ team.

Leeds try to figure out how to persuade Chelsea to loan them attacker

But a report from TeamTalk today has put the deal back on the table. Leeds are the Ukraine star’s “preference” to join, ahead of links to Strasbourg and Coventry.

What they need to do is convince Chelsea that Mudryk will be an important part of their plans. The Blues would be likely to include “penalty clauses” in any potential loan which would penalise Leeds if Mudryk doesn’t play a lot, but that’s still not much use to the Blues.

With a number of good attackers already in Daniel Farke’s squad, it’s hard to see how they guarantee Mudryk playing time if he’s not doing well.