The 22-year-old was unable to change the course of Sunday’s 3-1 loss to West Ham for Chelsea.

After concerns were expressed about his performance against West Ham at the London Stadium on Sunday afternoon, Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk wrote a message to his fans.

After the game, several fans vented on social media about how poorly the Ukrainian’s time with the team had gone since his arrival the previous season, with some of them confessing their patience was wearing thin.

In what has started to feel like a nightmarish game for the Blues, Nayef Aguerd’s header gave the hosts the lead after just six minutes. However, just before the half-hour mark, Carney Chukwuemeka would score the equalizer with some excellent footwork and a curling shot.

Raheem Sterling dribbled into the box and was pulled down by Tomas Soucek, earning Mauricio Pochettino’s team a penalty five minutes before the break. Alphonse Areola dove to his right and palmed the ball away in order to save Enzo Fernandez’s penalty kick.

Michail Antonio’s effort from outside the box sailed past Bobby Sanchez and into the bottom-left corner to give the Hammers the lead. This caused the momentum to shift in the Hammers’ favor as they started the second half on the front foot once more.

Even after Aguerd was sent for a second bookable offense, Chelsea was unable to create a gap in the defense despite having more of the ball and having more movement and venom.

West Ham kept the score in their favor and sealed the victory after Blues record signing and rookie Moises Caicedo tripped over former Stamford Bridge left-back Emerson in the penalty area during stoppage time. The Blues suffered their first London derby defeat under their new management when Lucas Paqueta blasted the ball past Sanchez.

Unfortunately for Mudryk, who came on at halftime to replace the injured Chukwuemeka, he was unable to have any sort of impact on the left wing in the 45 minutes he was given.

Having lost key attackers to injury over the preseason, Chelsea legend Ashley Cole was worried after the game that players like Mudryk would be unable to help the Blues find those lost goals – not something you want to hear about your £62 million player.

“I really feel it is going to be a problem, in terms of goals,” he admitted on Sky Sports after the game. “Whether [Christopher] Nkunku comes back quicker than we think I don’t know, I think he’s a big loss.

“Then you are looking at other players around, Mudryk sometimes is a little bit too far away from the game. Is he arriving in the box enough?

“When we were there, that is what you want – penetration and runs in behind that cause defences problems.”

However, manager Pochettino defended the 22-year-old’s performance, saying: “Today he played 45 minutes. I think he’s a young player who we need to trust and build these relationships with us and the team. He has enormous quality and talent, it’s only time for him to settle better with the team and find a way to perform in the way that we expect.”

Mudryk himself then took to social media to send a message to supporters, claiming that if they stick together, the success will be sweeter following backlash over his performance.

Mykhailo Mudryk sent a message to supporters via Instagram this afternoon (Image: Mykhaylo Mudryk (@mmudryk10))

He wrote: “Guys, just want to say that I appreciate all your support [red heart emoji]. We going with y’all in one boat, lose together and we win together, and my success will be yours as well [handshake emoji, winky face emoji, prayer emoji].”