With Mykhailo Mudryk's suspension from competitive football now lifted, his Chelsea future is uncertain given he has spent almost two years away from the games
Mykhailo Mudryk
Chelsea face a tough decision in relation to Mykhailo Mudryk(Image: Danehouse Photography Ltd)
View 3 Images
For Mykhailo Mudryk, the plan could not be any simpler: go and play football again, enjoy what you have spent your whole life obsessed with.
But for almost two years, the Ukrainian could not do that - not competitively, anyway. Instead, Mudryk was lost in the wilderness. In December 2024, the Chelsea winger, signed from Shakhtar Donetsk for a whopping £88.5million three-and-a-half years ago, was notified of a positive test for a low-concentration of meldonium, a banned substance that can improve physical endurance.
A month later, he was hit with a four-year ban by the FA, which Mudryk then appealed at the Court of Arbitration of Sport. In June 2025, Mudryk was charged by the FA with an anti-doping rule violation. However, in an extraordinary turn of events, Mudryk is now free to compete for Chelsea once again - with his most recent competitive appearance for the Blues coming in a Conference League win over Heidenheim in November 2024.
The doping case against the 25-year-old has now been resolved in agreement with the FA and the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA). As per the changes to WADA's scientific guidance, if Mudryk was to take the test today, he would not have committed an anti-doping offence.
Mudryk is now set to fly out to Hong Kong to join up with the Chelsea squad for the second leg of the club's four-country pre-season tour. The Blues take on Juventus at the Kai Tak Stadium on August 5 and Mudryk could be a part of the squad.
Mykhailo Mudryk
Mykhailo Mudryk can play for Chelsea again(Image: Ryan Pierse)
View 3 Images
Though, given the fact he has not played a competitive game in almost two years, Mudryk will be light years behind in terms of match fitness. That is why this news has come at the perfect time for Chelsea, and of course Mudryk, with pre-season hopefully the golden opportunity to ease the Ukrainian back into action.
Mudryk has been keeping himself fit - sources say he has played padel in London in recent months. As well as this, the Chelsea wide man has used non-league side Uxbridge FC's facilities. Honeycroft Stadium features a 3G artificial pitch and Mudryk was there consistently with a private trainer to try and maintain some form of sharpness, although nothing compares to the real thing.
Stamford Bridge insiders insist Mudryk was backed throughout the whole process, where the winger maintained that he never knowingly or intentionally took a prohibited substance. The club's focus is now entirely on supporting the winger's sudden return to football and helping him reintegrate into the squad.
How does he do that, though?
Mykhailo Mudryk
Mykhailo Mudryk has not played competitively since November 2024(Image: Simon Stacpoole/Offside)
View 3 Images
So much has changed at Chelsea in the 20 months he has been away from the spotlight. Of the Blues XI that started that win in Heidenheim in November 2024 - Mudryk's last game - only five of the Ukrainian's teammates remain at the club.
Enzo Maresca was the head coach. Then Liam Rosenior came and so swiftly went. Xabi Alonso has been appointed. Where does Mudryk fit into Alonso's plans?
Alonso was aligned with the club's sporting directors in relation to their Alejandro Garnacho stance. The Argentine never even got a training session under the new manager before he was shipped off to Aston Villa on a season-long loan deal that includes a conditional obligation to buy.
Jamie Gittens looks like a new player in pre-season, so he is set to be part of Alonso's plans next season. Morgan Rogers has just been signed for a club-record transfer fee of £117m and his main position is on the left-hand side, although Alonso does appreciate the England international's versatility in attack.
New signing Geovany Quenda, who is also expected to fly out to Hong Kong to join up with the Chelsea squad after picking up a knock last week, can be used on both sides. It leaves Alonso and Chelsea with a real dilemma.
Do they wait for Mudryk to get back up to speed?
Brutally, even when Mudryk was up to speed, so to speak, prior to his suspension, he was fairly unremarkable. Mudryk has 10 goals in 73 appearances for the west Londoners in all competitions. Only 40 of those games have been from the start.
Mudryk has not been a first-choice option since joining Chelsea. Despite being given opportunities, the winger failed to cement a space on the left-hand side and make it his own.
Now, with all the above context, Mudryk surely faces an uphill challenge of winning over Alonso, whose plan heading into the new season probably didn't involve the winger given his previous suspension.
Chelsea of course have the option to send Mudryk on loan for the upcoming campaign and assess him before he returns next summer. One of the benefits of the multi-club model is being able to keep a close eye on him if he were to move to French side Strasbourg for the season and ensure he gets the minutes in order to return to his peak condition.
Remarkably, even with 20 months away from the first-team picture, Mudryk still has just short of five years remaining on his contract at Stamford Bridge. It is fascinating to see how the next year of that deal plays out with this new chapter of Mudryk's story perhaps even more gripping than the last.