Chelsea

On Tuesday morning, the Premier League giants confirmed earlier reports that the £89m winger had tested positive for meldonium, a banned substance that enables the body to recover energy faster.

Mudryk has since expressed his innocence, the alleged opinion being that he took a contaminated supplement while on international duty with Ukraine in October.

Nevertheless, the 23-year-old now faces a period of uncertainty having already been provisionally banned by the Football Association prior to the opening of the 'B' sample.

"We trust Mischa"

At a press conference ahead of Thursday's Conference League fixture with Shamrock Rovers, Mudryk was naturally the focus of the media.

As well as reiterating Chelsea's support and trust for Mudryk, Maresca also backed his player to eventually resume his career with the West Londoners.

Speaking to reporters, the Italian said: "General support in terms of first of all we trust Misha and second when these kind of things happen you need to support your player in all the aspects.

"It's also my duty to be in contact with him and me, the club, the players, the teammates. We are all there."

He added: "At the moment he can't train. We are waiting but as I said, the club is there to support the player with all the things that we need to support him in all the aspects.

"I think he's going to come back. Now the only thing is that we don't know when. It's the only doubt we have in this moment but for sure he's going to come back."

How had Mudryk been faring this season?

Mudryk had been provided with nine starts and six substitute outings in all competitions prior to being absent from the squad since December 4.

A total of three goals and five assists had been contributed during 2024-25, all of which had come in the EFL Cup or Conference League.

Maresca acknowledged at the media briefing that Tyrique George is in line to take Mudryk's place in the short term, the academy graduate expected to start versus Shamrock Rovers on Thursday.

Written by

Darren Plant