Mykhailo Mudryk has been cleared to return to football, and his Chelsea team-mates have made their feelings clear on social media. The 25-year-old has not played for the Blues since November 2024 after testing positive for meldonium and being handed a four-year suspension by the Football Association.
Earlier this week, English football's governing body confirmed that disciplinary proceedings against the Ukrainian had been resolved. A provisional ban had been placed on Mudryk a month after his failed test.
During his time out, an appeal was lodged with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and confirmation of a hearing arrived in May last year, with written submissions also exchanged. The situation has now been resolved, with Mudryk posting on social media after the decision was made official.
Team-mates rally around Mudryk
Levi Colwill and Reece James led the tributes by reposting his official statement to their Instagram stories. Romeo Lavia, Nicolas Jackson, Robert Sanchez and Malo Gusto all followed their lead.
Former team-mates including Ben Chilwell, Marc Cucurella and Christopher Nkunku, along with Cole Palmer, Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Pedro Neto and Wesley Fofana, were among the 1.5 million users to like the Ukrainian's post. Almost 60,000 users also flooded the comment section with messages of support.
Mudryk set for Hong Kong trip
Mudryk will now travel to Hong Kong to link up with the Chelsea squad ahead of Wednesday's friendly against Juventus.
Speaking to journalists at Accor Stadium in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday following a 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea boss Xabi Alonso described the winger as a 'special' player while tempering expectations over any immediate return.
Alonso calls for patience
"We are happy for him, especially for him," said Alonso. "Probably, we are not able to understand what he has been through in this time and how does he feel at the moment with the things that he had to cope with.
"We want that he feels part of a team, because he has been training on his own for a long time, and that we have the support from everyone, from the club, from the teammates, from the staff, and for sure it will take time. So once he is with us, we will see how things develop."
On Mudryk's fitness and future, Alonso added: "We need to see, it's too early to tell, to see how he is in terms of fitness, in terms of this game time that you need to be involved again, so it's still early to tell."
"We have the Mudryk that [we had], it will take time, but once there is a change, things start moving, and for him it's a massive change. So he trained on his own every day, and I think it had to be really, really hard, because he wanted to play football. He wanted to be part of a team, and he was not allowed to do that for such a long time. So once this big change has happened, now things will move on, and afterwards we will see if it's quicker, if it's slower, but we need to be aware of that."
Reflecting on Mudryk's qualities, Alonso said: "Yeah, I remember watching him in Shakhtar, the impact he had, how quick he is, how good in one-on-one situations, how he could create a lot of situations on his own, and he's a special player, but he will take time for sure."
"To be honest, we were not expecting to have this great news at this moment, so we are very happy. We feel that he will be working with us."
