At no point during his 18 months as a Chelsea player has Mykhailo Mudryk had it easy.

The attacker arrived from Shakhtar Donetsk in January 2023 and had to immediately acclimatise to a new club, a new city, and a new league.

If that alone wasn’t hard enough, the 23-year-old left his family in Ukraine behind as war ravaged the country. They remain there to this day and are never far from his mind; nor are his brave compatriots on the frontline.

Football may seem trivial when such brutality is being inflicted on his homeland, but Mudryk is determined to show the Chelsea faithful what he can do on a more consistent basis this season.

There have been numerous glimpses of his enormous potential; moments of brilliance that have left onlookers in awe. Yet the quest for consistency is ongoing and despite his travails, Mudryk is unafraid of making any excuses for that.

‘People haven’t seen the best of me,’ he admits. ‘There is still a lot more to come. I do a lot of hard work on and off the pitch. Sometimes you want something so bad but only at the right time will it happen.

‘You can try too hard, so you have to find a balance between that and not trying at all. When you find this balance, you will find success. I am confident you will see the best of me over time.’

Mudryk conducts this interview in English and says his grasp of the language is improving day by day. Some accents remain tricky to understand but he is studying hard with a specific goal: ‘Being able to be myself’.

The Ukraine international enjoys life in London, where there are ‘big opportunities for everything’ – and Mudryk is just as comfortable playing Uno with his friends here as he is going out to the capital’s best restaurants.

He has also relished getting to know his Chelsea teammates and learning more about their stories and cultures, many of which differ significantly from his experiences growing up in the east of Ukraine.

‘You have all these different people, and at the same time they are so the same,’ he smiles. Football is truly the global game.

And what of life under Maresca? Pre-season suggests the new head coach likes his wingers to stay high and wide, attacking their full-back with pace and purpose. Mudryk should be one of the beneficiaries.

‘I’m enjoying it because our playing style is very similar to what everyone, and me as well, wants to play,’ he says. ‘We can show our quality under his coaching.

‘His style of play will help me, for sure. How we are going to play will be really interesting this season and I hope we will be so successful. Let’s trust the process and then enjoy the games.

‘I don’t want to make any prediction for myself,’ adds Mudryk when we ask what he wants to achieve.

‘I just focus on team goals, our goals, and working hard, staying patient, keep believing, and success will be waiting for us.’

Nobody knows the value of patience more than Mudryk.