Enzo Maresca admitted he'd been working on getting Chelsea's wingers into better goalscoring positions in the box after Mykhailo Mudryk starred in Chelsea's UEFA Europa Conference League win over Panathinaikos,
The Ukraine international's struggles since joining Chelsea in a deal worth close to £90m have been well documented, with Mudryk managing just nine goal contributions in the Premier League.
Mudryk's iffy form has led to new manager Enzo Maresca utilising him sparingly in the Premier League in particular - playing just 82 minutes of league football during the 2024/25 campaign thus far.
The 23-year-old, who saw Chelsea strengthen their options in the summer by signing Joao Felix, Pedro Neto and Jadon Sancho, was given an opportunity to start for the Blues against Panathinaikos on Thursday and made the most of his chance by scoring his first goal of the season - he also assisted two more in a thumping 4-1 win.
Speaking to the press about Mudryk's star turn in Greece, Maresca admitted he was delighted by the display and revealed what he'd specifically been working on with all of his wingers prior to the game.
"I’m very happy but not for me, for him," the former Leicester City boss said. "We as a staff spend a long time helping the players, not only Misha but the whole squad, and since we started we have been working with all the wingers so that they arrive inside the box and into the position where Misha scored.
"He has struggled to arrive there but he is now arriving there and it’s where we will score goals. It’s the same for Jadon [Sancho], Noni [Madueke], Pedro [Neto], all the wingers, they need to be in that position because the ball is going to arrive in that position."
Two of Chelsea's goals came from Felix while the fourth came from Christopher Nkunku, who has also found regular minutes in the Premier League hard to come by because of the form of current striking incumbent Nicolas Jackson.
The Frenchman now has eight goals to his name for the season in all competitions, and like Mudryk will hope that his display can earn a start when Chelsea face off against Newcastle United in the Premier League on Sunday.
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