Mykhailo Mudryk is free to play again for Chelsea. So, what happens now?

As if Chelsea’s transfer window and Xabi Alonso’s squad remodelling were not complex enough, another puzzle piece has dropped in out of the blue.

Three and a half years after his initial signing in a deal worth up to €100million (£89m), and more than one year and eight months since his last appearance for the club, Mykhailo Mudryk finds himself starting from scratch at Chelsea.

Mudryk has not played for Chelsea since November 28, 2024, and was provisionally suspended by the Football Association on December 17 after an adverse finding in a routine urine test. He was then formally charged with violating anti-doping rules in June 2025 and it emerged in April this year that he was appealing a four-year ban handed down by the FA.

On Friday afternoon, the FA and Chelsea confirmed that anti-doping disciplinary proceedings against the 25-year-old have been resolved.

The FA said Mudryk has accepted that he had committed an anti-doping rule violation and the period of ineligibility. However, after changes to anti-doping rules, the concentration of meldonium (a banned substance) that was found in Mudryk’s sample would not have been reported as a positive test today. Because of this detail, and “other circumstances of the case”, the FA said the proceedings have now been resolved and Mudryk can return to competition “with immediate effect”.

First and foremost, it will come as an enormous relief to Mudryk, who has had what was at one point a very promising career put on hold.

“I am grateful that this process has reached a conclusion, that I have been cleared to return to football and that I can now look ahead to my future,” he wrote on Instagram. “This has been the most difficult period of my career.”

The worst, for Mudryk, is over — but resuming his career will not be straightforward.

So much has changed at Chelsea during Mudryk’s absence.

The last head coach he played under, Enzo Maresca, departed and Mudryk has missed the entirety of Liam Rosenior’s short tenure and Calum McFarlane’s interim spells either side of it.

Left-sided forwards Jamie Gittens, Alejandro Garnacho, and Morgan Rogers have joined the club — although Garnacho has now been loaned to Aston Villa with a conditional obligation to buy.

The fact that a player recruited partly to fill the gap left by Mudryk has come and gone during his absence speaks to how long he has been away.

Chelsea’s statement on Friday said their focus is supporting Mudryk’s reintegration, which is expected to begin with him joining their pre-season tour in Hong Kong next week. But how does Mudryk now fit into a squad that had been constructed to cope without him?

Others’ journeys show that slotting straight back into a first-team picture after long, enforced absences is not always straightforward. Paul Pogba reached an agreement to terminate his contract with Juventus to resume his career as a free agent after his suspension for doping violations ended. He went on to join Monaco but his debut 2025-26 season at the French club has been disrupted by injury, playing six times in Ligue 1 (only one of which was a start).

Goalkeeper Andre Onana missed almost the whole of 2021 through a doping ban while at Ajax and, though his return at Ajax was complicated by contract talks, he eventually returned to play and went on to be No 1 for Inter and Manchester United.

Sandro Tonali, on the other hand, reclaimed his starting spot at Newcastle United almost instantly after a 10-month suspension for breaching gambling rules. However, he had been able to train with team-mates during his absence.

The circumstances for Mudryk are challenging. Alonso has not always played with orthodox wingers in the past and it remains to be seen exactly how he wants to use Chelsea’s squad. But on the left wing, Mudryk’s preferred position, there is Gittens, who looks to have found some promising rhythm in pre-season so far, and club-record signing Rogers can also fit in that role. And Pedro Neto can also play on the left.

There is plenty of competition — and this season does not bring the luxury of European football, which was a useful route for Mudryk to find game time before his suspension. Of Mudryk’s 15 Chelsea appearances in 2024-25 before he was unavailable, nine were starts and six of those came in the Conference League.

Before the transfer window closes, Mudryk effectively has one month to convince Chelsea that he should figure in their first-team plans for the season. That task begins as soon as next week in Hong Kong — but what sort of form he enters that camp in is anyone’s guess.

In almost two years as an active player at Chelsea, Mudryk struggled for consistency, working first under Graham Potter, then Mauricio Pochettino, then finally and briefly under Maresca. There was praise for his athleticism and pace, but frustrations were voiced by multiple head coaches and his output — five goals and four assists in 53 league appearances — was hardly outstanding. The UEFA Conference League was presenting opportunities for him to find form in 2024-25, but that slammed to a halt with his suspension.

Mudryk has been training at Uxbridge FC’s facilities for at least part of his exile; The Athletic’s Liam Twomey went along to spectate in April, watching him hone his finishing and show off his trademark pace. He has clearly been doing what he can to remain as ready as possible, but there is only so much that individual training can do. He will be itching to rejoin his team-mates in Hong Kong, where Alonso can gauge how effective that solo work has been and how he might fit into his plans.

If the new manager does not see him featuring enough in a season with limited minutes to go around, the challenge is how to pitch a player for a prospective loan when would-be suitors have not seen him play competitively in almost two years.

A sale at this juncture would surely be unlikely: Chelsea will still hope they can extract a return on the pitch from a player they invested so heavily in. Besides, given Mudryk has been out of action for so long, it is hard to see how Chelsea could currently command the sort of fee it would take to countenance a sale. One way or another, they will want a return on their investment.

The biggest immediate question over Mudryk has been answered. But what his future looks like is far from certain.