Oleksandr Kovpak: "Mudryk was more nerves than good. He was a Protestant against everyone"

Famous Ukrainian forward Oleksandr Kovpak spoke about Chelsea midfielder Mykhailo Mudryk, with whom he used to play together at Arsenal Kyiv.

Alexander Kovpak

- In the 2018/2019 season, a very young Mykhailo Mudryk was on loan at Arsenal Kyiv. Did you play with him?

- Yes, I met Mishka. The child was very young, green. I remember the photo, me, Lipartiya and Mudryk. I showed it to my wife: "Look, here are 102 million. Mudryk is worth 100, and we are worth a million each."

He was not yet formed at Arsenal, 18 years old. At that time, Misha was more nervous than useful. In a good way. He was moulding himself then. Mudryk was a protestant against everyone. He was told that he could not do this, but he did it. They say: today we have a pre-game for 50 minutes, then we all go to dinner. After dinner, we go out and there is a silhouette. It's him circling the chips. You see, the man has achieved everything himself.

- They say that at Arsenal he did not really fit into the team game, he did not always see his partners. Is it true?

- Yes, because he played more children's football. He is not yet an adult who cares about points and finances. If someone said something to him, Misha would furrow his eyebrows in a curious way, disagreeing. But the talent was immediately apparent. Jaba Lipartia and I were the most mature. They would say: "Misha, you have fantastic speed, a tremendous shot, use it. You need to clean up your tiki taka." Sometimes I listened, and sometimes it worked. We could see the talent, we were waiting for it to grow. "Shakhta waited, well done. They sold Mudryk for a fantastic sum.

- Did Mudryk's children's football mean that he wanted to beat everyone on the pitch, just like in the yard?

- I remember the ball flying towards him in the penalty area. Wake up and run forward! No, he starts passing, he's a bit of a heel. Our coach was Igor Leonov, and he was bursting with excitement. It takes a lot of nerve to stand up to that!

Anton TEREKHOV