NEW DELHI —Chelsea
forward Mykhailo Mudryk has been provisionally suspended after failing a doping
test. The Football Association contacted the club on ‘an adverse finding in a
routine urine test'.
Mudryk, 23, has denied any such finding and claimed he has
'never knowingly used any banned substance' and will be looking on how to
proceed from the shocking revelation.
“I can confirm that I have been notified that a sample I
provided to The FA contained a banned substance. 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,' read the
statement by Mudryk.
Reports of Mudryk's violation came out in Ukraine on Monday,
which claimed the substance found in his ‘A’ sample was Meldonium, a
performance-enhancing drug that was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s
prohibited list on January 1, 2016.
“Chelsea Football Club can confirm the Football Association
recently contacted our player Mykhailo Mudryk concerning an adverse finding in
a routine urine test. Both the club and Mykhailo fully support The FA’s testing
programme and all our players, including Mykhailo, are regularly tested. Mykhailo
has confirmed categorically that he has never knowingly used any banned
substances. Both Mykhailo and the club will now work with the relevant
authorities to establish what has caused the adverse finding,” read the
statement by Chelsea football club.
Mudryk joined Chelsea for a deal worth up to 89 Million
Pounds, after beating London rivals Arsenal to his signature in January 2023.
The Ukrainian had signed an eight and a half-year contract deal which will run
until June 2031. Since joining the club Mudryk has had an underwhelming impact
on the club having played 73 games whilst only racking up 10 goals and nine
assists so far.
The biggest doping case in football in recent times has been
that of Paul Pogba after he was banned for four-years for using DHEA, a
testosterone-enhancing supplement. Pogba's violation was classified under
'non-endogenous testosterone metabolites' by the World Anti-Doping Agency
(WADA)) and sanctioned with a four-year period of ineligibility commencing in
September 2023 and a fine of 5,000 Euros but reduced the sanction imposed on
the player to 18 months of ineligibility and cancelled the fine.
