Alonso on Chelsea injury worry and Mudryk’s future after pre-season defeat to Spurs | OneFootball

Xabi Alonso says he is delighted that Mykhailo Mudryk is available to play again after having his doping case resolved.

Mudryk has not played for Chelsea since November 2024 after traces of banned substance meldonium were found in a drugs test.

The Ukrainian had been handed a four-year ban, but has now been permitted to play again following an appeal.

He will join up with the Blues squad when they travel to Hong Kong, but Alonso stressed that Mudryk’s return will require patience.

“Yes, we are happy for him, especially for him, because probably we are not able to understand what he has been through in this time and how does he feel at the moment with the things that he had to cope with,” the Chelsea boss said after his side’s pre-season defeat to Spurs.

“We want that he feels part of a team, because he has been training on his own for a long time, and that we have the support from everyone, from the club, from the teammates, from the staff, and for sure it will take time. So once he is with us, we will see how things develop.

“To have the Mudryk that [we had], it will take time, but once there is a change, things start moving, and for him it’s a massive change.

“He trained on his own every day, and I think it had to be really, really hard, because he wanted to play football, he wanted to be part of a team, and he was not allowed to do that for such a long time.

“So once this big change has happened, now things will move on, and afterwards we will see if it’s quicker, if it’s slower, but we need to be aware of that.”

“We need to see, it’s too early to tell, to see how he is in terms of fitness, in terms of this game time that you need to be involved again, so it’s still early to tell.”

Stay up to date with all the latest Chelsea news by joining our Chelsea WhatsApp channel. 

Meanwhile, goalkeeper Robert Sanchez missed the defeat to Spurs with an injury but Alonso hopes to have him back soon.

“Robert has a minor [injury], not a big thing, but not for today, and we’ll have to wait until, let’s see, for the next week,” Alonso said.

“We need to go assessing almost day by day, but there was no point of taking risks today.”

If you enjoy our articles, help us out by making Hayters.com one of your preferred sources on Google by clicking here.