Delighted Xabi Alonso hails the return of 'special' Mykhailo Mudryk after Chelsea's £88m star saw his four-year doping ban overturned

Xabi Alonso does not know what will happen next with Mykhailo Mudryk at Chelsea, but says he is looking forward to meeting the unsuspended Ukrainian in Hong Kong and working with him.

Chelsea’s new manager spoke for the first time since it was announced that Mudryk’s four-year doping ban had been cut short. The 25-year-old has not appeared for his club since November 2024 but will now be travelling to Hong Kong to join his team-mates on their pre-season tour.

Chelsea signed Mudryk for £89million from Shakhtar Donetsk in 2023 as he signed an eight-and-a-half-year contract until 2031. His career was then curtailed when he was charged with failing a doping test.

Following developments in the scientific guidance, WADA increased the reporting threshold to provide greater confidence that samples reported as positive exceed the minimum reporting level. The precise source of the exposure has never been entirely identified, but it is believed it occurred while Mudryk was on international duty with Ukraine in September 2024.

‘To be honest, we were not expecting to have this great news at this moment, so we are very happy,’ Alonso said after losing a pre-season friendly, 2-1 to Tottenham, in Sydney, Australia. ‘We feel that he will be working with us.

A delighted Xabi Alonso shared his excitement at working with the unbanned Mykhailo Mudryk

The Ukrainian saw his four-year doping ban overturned on Friday afternoon

‘I remember watching him in Shakhtar (Donetsk), the impact he had, how quick he is, how good in one-on-one situations, how he could create a lot of situations on his own, and he's a special player, but he will take time for sure.

‘We are happy for him, especially for him, because probably we are not able to understand what he has been through in this time. 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 team-mates, from the staff, and for sure, it will take time. Once he is with us, we will see how things develop. He is coming to Hong Kong, but I haven't spoken to him yet.’

Asked if Mudryk will be staying with Chelsea or leaving this summer, such as by being sent on loan to their sister side Strasbourg, Alonso said: ‘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 too early to tell. It will take time. For him it's a massive change.

‘He trained on his own every day, and 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.’