Chelsea have been handed a four-year potential ban on winger Mikaylo Mudrick on suspicion of doping violations.
According to Sky Sports’ Kaveh Solhekol, the case has not yet been fully resolved, but we may not be able to see Ukraine international acting for a long time.
The journalist gives insight into what happened in Mudrick, explaining that the player himself has declared that he did nothing wrong.
Despite a positive test for the banned substance Meldonium in one sample, it has not been officially confirmed whether this is the result of a second drug test.
Still, it may take some time before you learn exactly how this pans out.
What happened to Mykhailo Mudryk?
Mudryk has been taking action for a while, and Solhekol explains exactly what this means is all pan-out and what happens next.
Speaking about Sky’s video report, he said: “The story begins in November when Madrick was on international missions with Ukraine. It was in December that he was found to have been tested for drugs when he left Chelsea.
“Sample A tested positive for a banned substance, and that substance was meldonium, classified as a performance-enhancing substance.
“In December, he was immediately suspended for a tentative period, which meant he was unable to play for Chelsea and trained with Chelsea.
“We had to wait for the results of the B sample. The drug testing protocol is to always have sample A and sample B, which is such a serious problem so we are 100% sure what the finding is.
“B-sample has never been formally said to be positive for meldonium either, but we need to assume that we did so as the Football Association announced in the past hour that it was charged with a doping violation.”
How long is Mykhailo Mudryk banned?
Solhekol also provided insight into how long Mudryk will come out. The former Shakhtar Donetsk man has already been suspended for the past six months.
This means that Mudrick could not represent them on the pitch or visit the training ground, but was unable to engage Chelsea in all abilities.
“The worst case scenario, he faces a four-year ban, meaning he won’t be able to play football again until at least 2029,” Solhekol added, but emphasized that players in similar situations had previously been overturned or a slight decline in appeals.
“This will be a long legal process. The important thing is that the player himself feels he hasn’t done anything wrong. He’s devastated. This is his living.
“He’s healthy and he’s training himself. I think he uses his personal trainer to go to the gym, but I think Chelsea is ready for this unforeseen situation.”
Solhekol added that Mudryk has created his own way to watch Chelsea in the Europa Conference League finals. He was not allowed to be involved with Enzo Maresca’s team, so he essentially joined the game as a fan.
The 24-year-old has scored 10 goals in 73 games for Chelsea since joining the West London Giants in January 2023.