Mudryk Set for Tottenham Debut as De Zerbi Ends Doping Saga

Mykhailo Mudryk’s long road back to elite football is almost over. Roberto De Zerbi says the winger is finally ready to pull on a Tottenham shirt.

The 25-year-old has not played a competitive club game since November 2024, his career stalled by a meldonium case that dragged on for the best part of two years. Now, with the legal storm cleared and his fitness rebuilt in the shadows, De Zerbi is preparing to unleash him.

“I don’t know how much time he needs to be available to start the game,” the Spurs head coach said before this weekend’s fixture. “One part of the game, I think he’s ready right now to play 20, 15, 30 minutes.”

For a Tottenham side still trying to catch fire under their new manager, that sounds like oxygen. De Zerbi’s football demands width, speed, aggression between the lines. At his best, Mudryk offers all three in violent bursts.

He has spent recent months training with Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea squad on their pre-season tour, trying to bridge the gap between gym fitness and match sharpness. The body looks ready. The question is rhythm. Nearly two years without competitive football leaves scars no GPS data can fully explain.

The root of the absence is well known by now. Late in 2024, Mudryk received a provisional suspension after tests revealed a low concentration of meldonium, a heart medication banned because it can aid recovery and endurance. The finding stopped his career dead. A player once tipped for the Ballon d'Or was suddenly reduced to an asterisk, his future parked while the case crawled through the system.

The breakthrough finally arrived in July. WADA reached an agreement with the English FA, concluding that the levels detected back in 2024 would not be treated as a positive test under the current regulations. The cloud lifted in a single decision. Mudryk could return immediately.

The damage, though, had already been done. During his suspension he trained alone, away from tactical sessions, away from dressing-room noise, away from the chaos that for most footballers is simply called life. He stayed fit, but he did it in isolation.

De Zerbi knows exactly what that costs a player. He also knows exactly what Mudryk can be.

The Italian coached him at Shakhtar Donetsk, where the Ukrainian’s raw pace and fearless dribbling first exploded onto the European stage. Their relationship was forged in the most testing of circumstances, at the start of the conflict in Ukraine, and De Zerbi still speaks about him with the protective tone of a mentor.

“The last problem, the suspension, but by the end the potential was clear, is clear, and now his challenge is to respect all his qualities, because he’s a great player,” he said, recalling their time together.

This reunion at Tottenham is more than a tactical fit. It is a reset.

Mudryk arrives in north London after an uneasy spell at Stamford Bridge, where a huge fee and huge expectations quickly turned into a burden. He never truly settled, never consistently justified the outlay that made him one of the most expensive players in Premier League history.

Now De Zerbi wants to strip away that weight.

He insists Mudryk will be treated like any other member of his squad, name-checking defender Micky van de Ven as the benchmark for normality. “Now I think he’s a normal player like (Micky) Van de Ven, like another player. If he deserves it, he will play or not,” De Zerbi said.

That is the message inside the dressing room: no special rules, no special protection, no guaranteed place. Talent opens the door; performances decide who walks through.

At the same time, De Zerbi knows the stakes. Tottenham have not signed Mudryk to be a rotation piece. They have signed him because they believe the player Chelsea paid around £100m for still exists.

“He has to feel this season, to live this season in the right way, not too much pressure,” De Zerbi added. “It is the right moment for him to show all people things because if Chelsea paid 100m four years ago – they bought a lot of big, big players, no? – they thought very well about the qualities of Mudryk.”

So the stage is set. A player once frozen by a doping saga now stands on the touchline, stripped and ready, waiting for the fourth official’s board to go up.

For Mudryk, those first 15, 20, 30 minutes in a Tottenham shirt will not just be a debut. They will be a verdict on everything that has happened since his career was abruptly paused – and a hint of whether this second act can finally match the promise of the first.