Enzo Maresca insists that the Chelsea staff and players “support and trust” Mykhaylo Mudryk is innocent after failing a drugs test.
Mudryk has struggled to make the impact expected of him at the Blues after moving to Stamford Bridge from Shakhtar Donetsk for £89m in January 2023, contributing five goals and four assists in 53 league appearances.
The Ukraine international was ‘provisionally suspended’ by the Football Association earlier this week after a routine urine test returned an “adverse finding”.
Chelsea issued their own statement on Tuesday: “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.”
While Mudryk took to social media to issue his statement, he wrote: “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.”
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And now Chelsea boss Maresca has insisted that all the players and staff at the training ground are fully behind Mudryk.
Maresca told a pre-match press conference on Wednesday: “We support Mykhailo and trust means that we believe Mykhailo.
“The club, the coaching staff and all of the people that are inside the training ground – we support and we trust Mykhailo.
“I think he is going to come back but we don’t know when. But for sure he is going to come back.”
After speaking with Mudryk, Chelsea head coach Maresca added: “Any kind of player that this kind of things happens to, they need support, you would need support and I would need support.
“It is not about his age or the country that he comes from.”