Mudryk Chelsea return will take time - Alonso

Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso expressed his happiness at Mykhailo Mudryk's return to the squad, though he cautioned that it is "too early" to assess the Ukraine winger's readiness. Mudryk, 25, is set to join Chelsea's pre-season tour after the Football Association (FA) concluded his doping case.

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Yes, he is coming to Hong Kong, but I haven't spoken to him yet. It's too early to tell how he is in terms of fitness, in terms of the game time you need to be involved again, so it's still too early to tell. But we are happy for him, especially for him, because we are probably not able to understand what he has been through during this time and how he feels at the moment with the things he has had to cope with.

Mudryk has been sidelined since November 2024 following an "adverse finding" for the banned substance meldonium. The FA has closed its proceedings after Mudryk accepted breaching anti-doping rules and agreed to a suspension equivalent to the one year and eight months he had already served. He has been training privately with his own coach and goalkeepers.

"Yes, he is coming to Hong Kong, but I haven't spoken to him yet," Alonso stated after Chelsea's friendly defeat to Tottenham. "It's too early to tell how he is in terms of fitness, in terms of the game time you need to be involved again... But we are happy for him, especially for him, because we are probably not able to understand what he has been through."

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We expect that it will take time. 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. Afterwards we will see if it's quicker or slower, but we need to be aware of that. We want him to feel part of the team. Once he is with us, we will see how things develop.

Alonso acknowledged that Mudryk's reintegration will require patience. "We expect that it will take time," he said. "He trained on his own every day, and I think it had to be really, really hard because he wanted to play football... We want him to feel part of the team. Once he is with us, we will see how things develop."

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Yeah, to be honest, we were not expecting to have this great news at this moment.

Alonso also noted that Mudryk's return was somewhat unexpected, given Chelsea's existing depth of wing options, including Pedro Neto, Estevao Willian, Jamie Gittens, and Geovany Quenda, with Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers also capable of playing wide. Meanwhile, former manager Roberto de Zerbi, now at Tottenham, expressed his personal joy at Mudryk's return, calling him "like a son" and a "top guy, a good player."

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He is another who is my son. I am very happy. He deserves to play. He is a top guy, a good player. I hope he can show, in this next season, what he suffered over the last two years. Maybe not against Tottenham, but he is a lovely guy and a very, very good player.