It’s the kind of news you don’t want to see confirmed. But today Chelsea announced Mykhailo Mudryk has indeed been flagged in a routine test for an “adverse finding”.
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.
-Source: Chelsea FC
As it’s often the case, local media broke through the news and the overseas sources are now catching up to it. Once the floodgates were opened, the club couldn’t contain it. In fact Chelsea will provide no further comments, at least not until the investigations are concluded.
According to further reports in Ukraine (via Matt Law) the substance in case is meldonium, which has been banned in 2016. If the B-sample returns positive, Mudryk could face a lengthy ban of four years. Until the results come back, he’s been put on a provisional suspension.
We can still hold out hope for the best and for a negative test on the aforementioned B-sample. But at the end of the day this is a very unfortunate development for a guy trying his hardest to prove his worth on the pitch, day in and out.