Chelsea head coach Graham Potter has played down talk of a rift between Mykhailo Mudryk and Marc Cucurella after the former appeared to criticise his teammate on Instagram.
Mudryk and Cucurella were on different wavelengths during the Blues’ 1-1 draw with West Ham UnitedAMP on Saturday, with the Ukrainian often running in behind Vladimir Coufal without receiving the ball.
A compilation post criticising Cucurella was subsequently liked by Mudryk’s account on Instagram before being removed later in the day, with the Spaniard also bearing the brunt of frustrated Chelsea fans on social media.
Responding to suggestions that there’s an issue between the pair, ahead of the Champions League round of 16 clash with Borussia Dortmund, Potter said: “There’s no problem in terms of anything sinister at all.
“If anything it’s just team-mates understanding each other, it’s quite a common problem, I would say – when to pass, at what point, at what time.
“Playing against a back five, West Ham make it difficult for you to access maybe the wideman’s feet and it’s just an understanding of when to play in space or how to make the runs.
“Mykhailo, that’s only his third game with us, so there’s no problem. It’s more just an understanding challenge, which is quite easy to understand when you recognise the context that we’re in.”
Cucurella’s place in Chelsea’s team could come under threat following Ben Chilwell’s return to fitness, with the £60m arrival from Brighton still trying to find his feet in west London.
As for Mudryk, he’s still looking to score his first Chelsea goal after arriving from Shakhtar Donetsk for a gargantuan £87.5m fee. The 22-year-old looked lively in a cameo debut appearance against Liverpool, but was dragged off at half-time against Fulham prior to his ineffective display at London Stadium.