Chelsea hand No.10 jersey to Palmer after Mudryk's awful season
6th June 2025
England international and Chelsea playmaker, Cole Palmer has been handed Mykhailo Mudryk’s No.10 shirt at Chelsea as the club confirmed on Thursday, June 5 2025.
Ukrainian International, Mykhailo Mudryk had donned the number 10 shirt since the beginning of the just ended season as he was tipped as one of the stars to wear the coveted jersey, deemed as a prolific young player after having worn the No.15 jersey in his first season in the 2023-2024 campaign when joined the club for €100 million. After the 2024-2025 season, Mudryk did not live up to expectations in the Blue colours as he failed to end the season on a good note after failing a doping test which kept him out of the usual squad for a long time.
Mudryk has been out of active football since testing positive for the banned substance, meldonium in December 2024 which was around the middle of the season.
Chelsea on Thursday, released a communique to confirm Cole Palmer — who previously wore the No.20 jersey as the new No.10, switching numbers in a statement which made no reference to Mudryk.
“Chelsea can confirm Cole Palmer will move to the No.10 shirt ahead of our 2025/26 campaign, starting from the FIFA Club World Cup,” the statement read.
“Palmer will make the switch ahead of our participation in the US-based tournament and could wear 10 for the first time when the Blues face Los Angeles FC in Atlanta on June 16.”
Chelsea's new signing, Liam Delap who was Cole Palmer's teammate with England's U21 national team back in 2021 will wear the No. 9 for Chelsea.
Palmer has become a pivotal figure for the west London side, making a huge statement with his incredible run of form since joining from Manchester City six months after Mudryk, amassing 37 Premier League goals in two seasons. Mudryk on the other hand has only managed five Premier League goals for the club.
Mudryk travelled out to Poland to watch Chelsea win the Conference League final against Real Betis on his own accord, and was pictured, posing with a winners’ medal after the huge triumph as he posed with deputy captain, Enzo Fernández.
The 24-year-old Ukrainian international was eligible for a winners' medal after playing a part in the group phase of the competition, but left netizens in contemplation on whether oe not the medal was his or for Enzo Fernandez.
"Mudryk denied doing “anything wrong” after failing the drugs test in December and said he hoped he would be back on the pitch “soon.”
Neither Chelsea nor the Football Association have provided any updates on the progress of the case since then." as per ESPN.