Chelsea have received multiple approaches about Mykhailo Mudryk from clubs following the news of his return to football – including three from the Premier League.
Coventry City, managed by Frank Lampard, who worked with Mudryk at Stamford Bridge in 2023, are believed to be among those to have enquired, sources have told Daily Mail Sport.
All options are open between Mudryk and Chelsea this summer, including whether to send him out on loan after his sudden comeback from a doping suspension.
The current plan is for the 25-year-old Ukrainian to be assessed by Xabi Alonso, having travelled to Hong Kong to join his team-mates on their pre-season tour.
Chelsea want to see where their player’s performance levels are now at, with the Ukraine international having not been involved in competitive football since November 2024. That was via his last appearance in a Conference League win away at Heidenheim in which he scored and then disappeared following his failed test.
Another option this summer would be to send Mudryk on loan to Strasbourg, their sister side in France’s Ligue 1. That would allow him to stay under the BlueCo umbrella.
Coventry City, managed by Frank Lampard, who worked with Mudryk at Stamford Bridge in 2023, are believed to be among those to have enquired, sources have told Daily Mail Sport
Wingers are in-demand in this window, which may explain why so many sides are intrigued by Mudryk’s comeback, despite nobody knowing his current fitness levels. His potential was once considered so highly that Chelsea paid £89million to sign him from Shakhtar Donetsk.
Mudryk is effectively a bonus arrival for Chelsea, with Alonso having told reporters after their pre-season loss to Tottenham in Sydney how the news came as a pleasant surprise. He is set to train under Alonso and with the Chelsea squad in Hong Kong, where the club will be facing Juventus in a friendly.
They also have games in Indonesia and Malaysia which will follow, and will be hosting Real Sociedad at Stamford Bridge after returning home to London.
If Mudryk was deemed ready to appear in that match, it would represent his first appearance at the Bridge since facing Arsenal in the Premier League there in November 2024. Chelsea beat Mikel Arteta’s club to secure his signature in January 2023.
Mudryk’s return to football was made possible because of a change in the way the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) measures meldonium – the substance for which he tested positive.
WADA increased the threshold by which a player is deemed to have passed the minimum reporting level, from 120 to 150 per cent. In other words, were Mudryk’s sample analysed today, he would not have been deemed to have violated the anti-doping rules.
Mudryk has now managed to come to a resolution with WADA and the Football Association, in which it has essentially been deemed he has served his time for his violation.
He has spent his suspension – described as long and lonely by sources – training almost daily in the hope of returning. That includes renting the pitch at the stadium of non-League side Uxbridge to stage sessions with a private trainer. Chelsea have been highly sympathetic to Mudryk’s situation, having believed his consistent claims of innocence ever since he tested positive.
It was believed to have occurred while he was away with the Ukraine national team in September 2024, and it was after facing Heidenheim in November 2024 that he was informed of his failed test.
