Chelsea’s Mykhailo Mudryk has been provisionally suspended from football after being notified of a positive drugs test by the Football Association.
The winger has not featured in the club’s past five matches. Enzo Maresca, Chelsea’s manager, has cited illness as the cause of Mudryk’s absence.
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However it has emerged that Mudryk, who has struggled since joining Chelsea for £89m in January 2023, has been missing since producing a contaminated ‘A’ sample. The Ukraine international is waiting to find out whether the results of a ‘B’ sample confirms the initial findings.
A club statement said: “Chelsea Football Club can confirm the Football Association recently contacted our player Mykhailo Mudryk concerning an adverse finding in a routine urine test.
“Both the club and Mykhailo fully support the FA’s testing programme and all our players, including Mykhailo, are regularly tested. Mykhailo has confirmed categorically that he has never knowingly used any banned substances. Both Mykhailo and the club will now work with the relevant authorities to establish what has caused the adverse finding. The club will not be commenting any further.”
Mudryk posted on Instagram: “This has come as a complete shock as I have never knowingly used any banned substances or broken any rules, and am working closely with my team to investigate how this could have happened.
“I know that I have not done anything wrong and remain hopeful that I will be back on the pitch soon. I cannot say any more now due to the confidentiality of the process, but I will as soon as I can.”
The FA declined to comment.