Former Chelsea star William Gallas believes that Mykhaylo Mudryk has similar attributes to Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe, in a bold claim that will be music to the ears of Mauricio Pochettino. The winger finally opened his account for the Blues earlier this week when scoring in the Blues' 2-0 win over Fulham.

Mudryk has struggled since heading to the Premier League from Shakhtar Donetsk in a deal worth approximately PS88.5million. The forward has shown glimpses of promise since making the move but questions have been raised about whether he has the ability to flourish at Stamford Bridge - and justify his enormous price tag.

Pochettino has attempted to instil confidence in Mudryk since he joined the club over the summer, and the Argentine will be hoping that his display on Monday night is a sign that his faith will be repaid on the pitch with top-quality performances.

The ex-Tottenham boss has sung the praises of the 22-year-old on several occasions, and ex-France international Gallas has lauded the energetic winger with a blockbuster comparison. He told Gambling Zone: "I think he has all of the attributes to become a top, top player. We can all see that he has the ingredients, we are just waiting to see his real quality.

"He makes things look really easy. The way that he can accelerate past players, he makes his opponent look slow. One player that was a little bit similar was Cristiano Ronaldo. When Cristiano was younger and first came to the Premier League, he showed that he had all of the technical ability and the pace. He showed incredible skill with his stepovers.

"Everything he did on the pitch was fast. Mudryk has some similar movements. I think when he can put everything together, it will be very difficult to stop Mudryk. He has the same ability as Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Mbappe when it comes to his ground speed and acceleration."

During the opening stages of the season, Mudryk wasted several occasions to bag his first Chelsea goal, with many citing his lack of a clinical edge as the key reason why the Ukraine international has cut a frustrated figure that has been drained of confidence.

Gallas expects the Chelsea star to progress markedly now that he has found the back of the net, continuing: "You could see that his teammates were really happy for him after he scored because most of his performances since he signed for Chelsea haven't been good enough. You can tell that there is a player in him though and, with more games, I think we will see a much-improved Mudryk."