Chelsea and Ukraine star Mykhailo Mudryk has been provisionally banned from football after testing positive for a prohibited substance – and his doping suspension could cause the west Londoners with a PSR headache once his lofty price tag is taken into account.
The Blues, thanks to an influx of cash after Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital replaced Roman Abramovich at the top of the hierarchy, were able to splash £88 million on the Ukrainian international’s signature in January 2023.
Putting pen to paper on an eight-year deal at Stamford Bridge, Mudryk arrived to plenty of fanfare given his previous goalscoring return at Shakhtar Donetsk in his native Ukraine. He’s struggled to pull up trees since the move, however, as evidenced by 10 goals and nine assists in 73 games.
The length of his contract meant that Chelsea, who are currently sitting second in the 2024/25 Premier League standings under Enzo Maresca’s stewardship, were able to spread payments over a long period of time to adhere to the division’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) and Profit and Sustainability (PSR) rules.
The winger, born in Krasnograd, has recently been provisionally suspended from playing in England’s top flight after failing a recent drugs test by the Football Association (FA). He protests his innocence and is awaiting a B sample to clear his name.
Mykhailo Mudryk in action for Chelsea Related
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Any punishment for the 23-year-old could create serious issues from a financial perspective for the capital club. Kieran Maguire, a football finance expert, told talkSPORT: “There are two issues here: if he fails the drugs test and is subject to a four-year ban, which I believe to be the maximum, then what they will have to do is take a look at the existing value of his contract, which he signed for £88m over eight years.
“They’re going to have to write down to what they think they could sell the player for in four years' time, or alternatively write off the whole contract. That would have significant implications as far as PSR is concerned, looking at the Premier League handbook there doesn’t appear to be any form of get out clause under these circumstances so he could a very big hit for PSR.”
Maguire then continued to explain how Chelsea could avoid the mother of all migraines. They could, of course, suspend the winger or, worse off, terminate his eight-year contract. Unfortunately for Mudryk, however, there is a possibility that the Premier League club could be entitled to compensation from the player in question.