HONG KONG — Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso said Mykhailo Mudryk will receive the club’s full support when he rejoins the team this week, but the Ukrainian winger will not be rushed back into action after winning his appeal against a doping ban.
Mudryk was suspended for four years after a 2024 drug test detected a low concentration of meldonium, a prohibited substance. The Football Association and World Anti-Doping Agency resolved his appeal Friday, clearing him to resume his career.
“We are happy, especially for him, because we are not able to understand what he has been through in this time and how he feels at the moment,” Alonso said in Sydney.
“We want that he feels part of the team, because he has not had this for a long time, and that he has the support from everyone: from the club, from the teammates, from the staff.”
Mudryk will join Chelsea for the next leg of its preseason tour in Hong Kong, where the club faces Juventus on Wednesday, Alonso said. Chelsea lost 2-1 to Tottenham in Sydney on Saturday.
Alonso said the club will take a cautious approach as Mudryk returns to team training.
“It will take time,” Alonso said. “But once there’s a change, things will start moving, and for him, it’s a massive change from training on his own every day.”
Mudryk, 25, joined Chelsea from Shakhtar Donetsk for £62 million ($83 million) in 2023. He has not played since November 2024.
Alonso said Mudryk’s extended absence from team football means he will need time to rebuild his fitness and adapt to playing with the squad.
“We need to do the work,” Alonso said.
Tottenham manager Roberto De Zerbi, who previously coached Mudryk at Shakhtar Donetsk, also welcomed the news.
“He’s my son, he’s a cool guy, a top player,” De Zerbi said. “Hopefully he can show what he suffered the last two seasons in this coming season, maybe not against Tottenham, but he’s a lovely guy.”
Mudryk appealed his suspension at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Changes to World Anti-Doping Agency procedures during the appeal meant that the same test result would not have led to charges under the current rules.
