Chelsea have been notified by the Football Association of an “adverse finding” in a urine sample provided by Ukrainian forward Mykhailo Mudryk.
The west London club issued a statement on Tuesday morning confirming the governing body had contacted them regarding the finding.
“Chelsea Football Club can confirm that the Football Association recently contacted our player Mykhailo Mudryk concerning an adverse finding in a routine urine test,” a club statement read.
“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.”
Mudryk issued a statement via his Instagram account.
“I can confirm that I have been notified that a sample I provided to the FA contained a banned substance,” it began.
“This has come as a complete shock as I have never knowingly used any banned substances or broken any rules, and 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.”
The FA declined to comment. The Professional Footballers’ Association have been contacted for comment.
Neither Chelsea nor the FA have confirmed if Mudryk has been provisionally suspended, but the FA’s anti-doping policy states that where there is an adverse analytical finding for a prohibited substance, a provisional suspension is mandatory.
Athletes are warned on the UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) website that they face a ban of four years if it is found a banned substance was taken intentionally.
If the violation involved a specified substance or a contaminated product, and the athlete can demonstrate they had no significant fault, ineligibility may range from two years to a reprimand, depending on the level of fault.
Mudryk last played for Chelsea in the Conference League match against Heidenheim on November 28, scoring the Blues’ second goal in a 2-0 win.
He was an unused substitute for the Premier League match against Aston Villa on December 1.
Mudryk joined Chelsea in a reported £88.5million move from Shakhtar Donetsk in January last year, signing an eight-and-a-half-year contract. It was reported in April that he had signed a further one-year extension to that deal.
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