Chelsea head coach Graham Potter has explained why he substituted Mykhailo Mudryk midway through their 0-0 draw at home to Fulham on Friday night.
The Blues put out a new-look side following another transfer window of heavy spending, with Mudryk making his first start for the club having impressed off the bench against Liverpool last time out.
However, after a slow first half against west London neighbours Fulham - registering zero shots, creating zero chances and completing zero take-ons - the Ukrainian was hauled off at half-time and replaced by fellow January signing Noni Madueke.
After the final whistle, Potter explained why Mudryk was hooked so early.
Firstly speaking to the Sky Sports cameras, Potter said: "It's always that way with young players [having a drop off], he has had a really heavy cold this week. He’s suffered a bit with that and felt a bit heavy legged and we didn’t want to take any risks with him. We’re still in the process of building up his minutes, he’s had a long break and that was the decision there."
He reiterated this to the written press soon after, stating: "He's had a heavy cold this week. He was feeling heavy legged at half-time and we didn't want to take a chance with him, he is still in a process where we are building up his minutes because of the break he's been on in Ukraine."