Chelsea are approaching three months since the last time Mykhaylo Mudryk pulled on a blue shirt, but Enzo Maresca has hinted that a resolution is no closer to being found.
The Ukrainian has become something of a forgotten man at Stamford Bridge following his shock provisional doping suspension, after he returned an ‘adverse finding’ from a routine urine test in December. He faces being hit with a lengthy ban of up to four years if it is found that his ‘B’ sample is positive.
The 24-year-old addressed his ban in a brief statement, in which he issued a strong denial of any wrongdoing: “I can confirm that I have been notified that a sample I provided to the FA contained a banned substance,” he said.
“This has come as a complete shock as I have never knowingly used any banned substances or broken any rules, and I am working closely with my team to investigate how this could have happened.
“I know that I have not done anything wrong and remain hopeful that I will be back on the pitch soon. I cannot say any more now due to the confidentiality of the process, but I will as soon as I can.”
It’s alleged that Mudryk had traces of banned substance in his drug test, but the results of his ‘B’ sample have not been made publicly available. The Ukrainian is having to be extremely patient while his career hangs in the balance and leaving him in limbo is helping no one.
It is entirely possible, of course, that the club and player are being kept in the loop and are simply unable to discuss in the public realm. In the meantime, Chelsea are suffering on the pitch without the £88million man.
Blues coach Maresca appeared to be none the wiser about the stiuation after being quizzed on the topic in his pre-match press conference on Friday. When asked if he had an update on Mudryk’s availability, he said: “No. No, I don’t think so.”
Initially, it looked as if Chelsea would sign a winger in January to temporarily replace Mudryk. The west London club were linked with Manchester United starlet Alejandro Garnacho and Bayern Munich forward Mathys Tel – but didn’t sign either, only bringing in midfielder Mathis Amougou from Saint Etienne.
They had trialled using Joao Felix on the left side, but Maresca quickly aborted that experiment and the Portuguese was loaned to AC Milan. That leaves Chelsea with only Pedro Neto, Jadon Sancho and 18-year-old Tyrique George to fill the void for the rest of the season, as Noni Madueke is out injured.
Not much has gone right for Chelsea since Mudryk was pulled out of the squad, having won just two of their last nine games in the Premier League.
That cannot be a mere coincidence, and the longer the issue drags on, the more detrimental it could be to prove for Maresca and his team this season.