Inside the spiralling career of Mykhailo Mudryk, from Arsenal and Chelsea transfer tussle to doping scandal
MYKHAILO MUDRYK’S Chelsea career went from bad to worse with news of his failed drugs test.
The Ukrainian winger, 23, tested positive for a banned substance in October and is set for a lengthy ban.
Mudryk denied knowingly taking the drug - alleged to be performance-enhancing meldonium, which was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency banned list in 2016.
And he could now face a suspension of up to four years in a shock and devastating blow.
It is a stark fall for the highly-rated rising star at the centre of an almighty transfer tussle between London’s two biggest clubs.
Arsenal looked set to complete a £97million deal in January 2023 - and the player himself seemingly had his heart set on the Emirates - only for Chelsea to hijack the transfer at the final hour.
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The Blues paid an initial £62m to Shakhtar Donetsk for lightning-quick Mudryk, although add-ons could take it up to a whopping £88m, leaving Ian Wright gutted.
And with his salary at Stamford Bridge a reported £100,000 per week, the eight-and-a-half-year contract he put pen to paper on was worth a staggering £44m in wages.
Despite the big money involved, though, Mudryk has failed to live up to the hype.
The keen darts and table tennis ace showed flashes of brilliance when he came on against Liverpool for his debut but had failed to score a single goal for Chelsea by the end of the 2022-23 season.
His woeful early stats even prompted the unfortunate nickname “007” - in reference to zero goals and zero assists in his first seven games.
And his settling-in time was no doubt hindered by criticism within weeks of his arrival in the Premier League when it emerged he had used the racist N-word in a TikTok video viewed more than 213,000 times.
What drug did Mudryk take?
By SunSport's Joshua Jones
MYKHAILO MUDRYK returned a positive sample for a drugs test in October.
The Chelsea winger could face a ban for up to four years - because the drug was a performance-enhancing substance.
It is alleged Mudryk had the drug meldonium in his system.
Meldonium - aka mildronate - is a metabolic modulator similar to insulin and is widely used in Eastern Europe.
It is used in heart disease therapy but is also claimed to enable athletes to withstand greater stress, use oxygen more sparingly and restore energy levels quickly.
Meldonium was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency banned list in January 2016 following its high prevalence at the 2015 European Games in Baku.
Just months later, former tennis world No1 and Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova was banned for two years by the International Tennis Federation - although this was later cut to 15 months on appeal.
Sharapova had been taking the drug for ten years for various health issues and claimed she was unaware it had been added to the banned list.
Also in 2016, Russian boxer Alexander Povetkin was found to have traces of meldonium in his system before he was due to fight fellow heavyweight world champion Deontay Wilder.
Mudryk was reciting lyrics from rapper Lil Baby’s 2017 song Freestyle in the clip with a pal but was slammed by fans and anti-racism group Kick It Out.
The footballer issued a grovelling apology and removed the post from his social media profile.
Mudryk eventually found the net against Fulham in October 2023 but just a couple of weeks later, then-boss Mauricio Pochettino dug his underperforming winger out in the media.
Blunt Poch said: “He needs to improve. He is still not at his best.”
And it appears Chelsea fans have not seen - and indeed may never see - the best of Mykhailo Mudryk.
He finished last season with seven goals and two assists in 41 appearances across all competitions and has added three in 15 so far this term - with each of those strikes coming in the Conference League - to take his overall Chelsea tally to ten in 73.
New manager Enzo Maresca is clearly not keen, handing him just one Premier League start.
How long are drugs bans in football?
By SunSport's Joshua Jones
MYKHAILO MUDRYK could be banned for up to four years after failing a drugs test
But what are the rules regarding drugs in football?
There is a big difference between recreational drugs and performance-enhancing substances.
Recreational drugs - such as cannabis, cocaine, heroin, LSD and MDMA - carry a six-month suspension.
However, this ban can increase to up to two years if a drug is detected when a player is tested after a match.
But performance-enhancing drugs carry a far more severe punishment.
And crucially the alleged drug Mudryk tested positive for, meldonium, falls under that category.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code's standard ban is four years.
That is how long Paul Pogba was suspended for following his failed drugs test - although it was later reduced on appeal to 18 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The FA follows the UK Anti-Doping code under the WADA authority so will follow their lead and procedures.
Should Mudryk's follow-up secondary 'B' sample also test positive, he is likely to be hit with at least an 18-month ban but it could be as high as four years.
The only person in football currently banned on the UKAD sanctions list for anti-doping rule violations is Craig Campbell.
The former Scottish striker was banned for four years in December 2022 after being convicted of dealing cocaine.
And now it does not seem highly coincidental that Mudryk missed the last four Chelsea games through “illness” before the news of his drugs test failure.
On the international stage, Mudryk has been a main man for Ukraine in recent years and scored the goal to send his war-torn nation to Euro 2024.
But his club career may have looked very different indeed.
In the summer transfer window just six months after arriving in England, Chelsea reportedly rejected offers for the wide man before Bayern Munich failed in a shock last-ditch bid to land Mudryk in January.
Now the West Londoners could face a legal minefield working out what to do with their flop.
In theory, Mudryk could be banned until 2029 if and when his suspension is confirmed.
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By the time he returns, he would still only be just turning 28 and have three years left on his bumper contract.
But what the career of Mykhailo Mudryk looks like when that time comes is completely unclear.
