Chelsea manager, Xabi Alonso, says he is delighted to welcome Mykhailo Mudryk back into the squad but has cautioned that the Ukraine international will need time to regain full fitness after nearly 20 months away from competitive football.
25-year-old Mudryk is set to join Chelsea’s pre-season tour in Hong Kong after resolving his anti-doping case with the Football Association (FA), bringing an end to a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
The winger has not played since November 2024 after being provisionally suspended for returning an adverse finding for the banned substance meldonium. The FA ended its anti-doping proceedings after Mudryk accepted breaching anti-doping rules and agreed to a suspension equivalent to the one year and eight months he had already served.
Speaking after Chelsea’s 2-1 friendly defeat to 10-man Tottenham in Sydney, Alonso confirmed Mudryk would rejoin the squad in Hong Kong.
“Yes, he is coming to Hong Kong, but I haven’t spoken to him yet,” Alonso said.
The Chelsea boss admitted it was too early to assess the winger’s readiness for competitive action.
“It’s too early to tell how he is in terms of fitness, in terms of the game time you need to be involved again, so it’s still too early to tell.
“But we are happy for him, especially for him, because we are probably not able to understand what he has been through during this time and how he feels at the moment with the things he has had to cope with.”
During his suspension, Mudryk was not permitted to train at Chelsea’s training ground or work with club staff. Instead, he maintained his fitness with a private coach and goalkeepers while training at non-league side Uxbridge.
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Alonso acknowledged the challenges the winger faced during his absence.
“We expect that it will take time,” he said.
“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.
“Afterwards we will see if it’s quicker or slower, but we need to be aware of that. We want him to feel part of the team. Once he is with us, we will see how things develop.”
Mudryk returns to a Chelsea squad with greater competition in the wide attacking positions. Pedro Neto, Estevao Willian, Jamie Gittens and Geovany Quenda are among the club’s wing options, while Cole Palmer and new £117 million signing Morgan Rogers can also operate out wide.
Alonso admitted the timing of Mudryk’s return came as a surprise.
“Yeah, to be honest, we were not expecting to have this great news at this moment,” he said.
The Spaniard also recalled Mudryk’s performances before his move to England.
“Yeah, I remember watching him at Shakhtar, the impact he had, how quick he was, how good he was in one-on-one situations and how he could create a lot of situations on his own. He’s a special player, but he will need time, for sure.”
Tottenham manager, Roberto De Zerbi, who coached Mudryk at Shakhtar Donetsk, also welcomed the winger’s return.
“He is another who is my son,” De Zerbi said. “I am very happy. He deserves to play.
“He is a top guy, a good player. I hope he can show, in this next season, what he suffered over the last two years. Maybe not against Tottenham, but he is a lovely guy and a very, very good player.
“I have to say thank you to all my former players for what they gave me, especially Misha, because I left there because of the war. I left that team, that club, not for football, despite it being maybe the best level of football I have coached.”
