Mykhailo Mudryk was hooked at half-time in his only Premier League start this season. So his provisional suspension for a failed drug test may not immediately appear a devastating blow for Enzo Maresca’s title challengers. But news that the Ukraine international, 23, faces a potential four-year ban will still dampen the mood at Stamford Bridge just as fans were beginning to believe their club is a bonafide contender again.
Mudryk is waiting for the results of his B sample following an “adverse finding” in a routine urine test. He denies ever “knowingly” taking a banned supplement and said he was in “complete shock” over the positive test. Should it be proven he ingested a banned substance – widely reported as being the blood flow medication meldonium – he could be banned until just before his 28th birthday, though it may take months for a resolution with scope to appeal.
Maresca, who initially claimed Mudryk was absent owing to an illness, will speak at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon before Thursday's Conference League tie against Shamrock Rovers. And he is likely to face some awkward questions around what else the club knows beyond a brief statement in which they said they “will now work with the relevant authorities to establish what has caused the adverse finding.”.
Regardless, this is a new low for Mudryk in a two-year spell that started badly and has continuously gotten worse. He arrived in January 2023 from Shakhtar Donetsk for an exorbitant £89m fee that both raised eyebrows across the sport and piled the pressure on a young player whose experience amounted to a couple of dozen starts in the Ukraine top flight and brief flashes in the Champions League group stage.
