After a long time waiting for a verdict on his future, the 25-year old has now been dealt with a very brutal punishment that could end his professional career
Back in January of 2023, Chelsea made the move to sign winger Mykhailo Mudryk from Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk for a fee of around £62m, with a potential extra £25m so in add ons if certain clauses were met.
Well, it's safe to say that none of those would have been reached. It has not been a successful time in West London for him. After a bright start, he began to struggle to impact games on a regular basis.
In his one full season at the club, he started 18 Premier League games, scoring five goals and providing two assists, with six big chances created. Not absolutely terrible numbers, but certainly not living up to the hype that came when he signed for the club over London rivals Arsenal.
Then, in the 24/25 season, he found his domestic game time extremely limited, with just 158 minutes in the league. He was instead enjoying playing in the UEFA Conference League, with three goals and three assists in four games.
Ironically, the last of those three goals came against Heidenheim on the 28th November. Which happened to be the most recent game of his career. Three weeks later, he was provisionally suspended by the FA after testing positive for doping.
The following summer, his number ten shirt was given to Cole Palmer, and two weeks later, the FA charged Mudryk with violating anti doping rules, with a potential four year ban on the cards.
Well, fast forward 10 months, and he has indeed been given a four year ban for anti doping violations, meaning he will not be allowed to play football until 2030, as per Ben Jacobs Considering he has not played for the best part of 18 months either, this is effectively a 5 1/2 year ban from the sport - which does feel harsh.
Jacobs mentions that the player will appeal the decision, whilst mentioning that Chelsea themselves have declined to comment on the situation.
A real shame for someone who clearly had so much potential. Fans will remember his exciting debut against Liverpool at Anfield back in January of 2023, with electric dribbling and tight control in tight spaces.
It wouldn't be fair to just say that he was completely on the right track prior to when he stopped playing in the winter of 2024, he was struggling before that, but it does feel a shame that we will seemingly never know if he would have reached his potential or not.
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