Mykhailo Mudryk to join Chelsea preseason after completing ban

Chelsea have just added an £80m winger to their squad, without any warning, in a stunning announcement from the club.

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Talk about a big news day…

We had only just digested the news that Chelsea were successful in their appeal against a points deduction for historic rule breaches when some even bigger admin-related Blues news came in.

Mykhailo Mudryk’s doping ban has been lifted, and the winger is cleared to play again immediately. The Ukraine international is expected to join up with Chelsea in Hong Kong next week, according to Fabrizio Romano. He hasn’t featured since testing positive for meldonium while on national team duty in November 2024.

Low dose means shorter ban for Mudryk

A club statement from the Blues reveals more – the winger has always maintained his innocence in terms of having deliberately taken any banned substance, and it seems like there have been recent developments which undermined the case against him:

“[Chelsea] welcome the acknowledgement that advances in the applicable scientific reporting standards for more reliable testing mean that, had Misha’s sample been analysed under today’s technical requirements, it would not have been reported as a positive test and no anti-doping rule violation would have resulted,” the statement reads.

Nizaar Kinsella clarifies – the dose of meldonium that Mudryk tested positive for was low enough that, rather than fight to overturn the ban, the player “settled” and his time already served is now greater than the sanction, making him immediately eligible to return.

In other news…

There’s a fair bit of interest from other teams in Nicolas Jackson, which is great for Chelsea’s transfer prospects this summer.

Paul Merson is delighted with the impending deal to sign Jordan Henderson, and he’s just explained why to Sky Sports.

An exceptional run in Sweden for a young Scot is attracting transfer attention from all around – including from Chelsea, according to some reports today.