Mudryk Set for Spurs Debut After Doping Suspension

Roberto De Zerbi says Mykhailo Mudryk is finally ready to pull on a Tottenham shirt, with the winger in line for his debut this Saturday after almost two years in competitive exile.

The 25-year-old has not played a senior match since November 2024, his career derailed by a provisional suspension for a low concentration of meldonium. Now, cleared and reunited with the coach who first unleashed his talent at Shakhtar Donetsk, he stands on the brink of a restart that once felt unlikely.

“I don’t know how much time he needs to be available to start the game,” De Zerbi admitted in his pre-match press conference. “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 head coach, that sounds like a jolt of electricity waiting on the bench.

From suspension to second chance

Mudryk’s story since late 2024 has been dominated not by goals or assists, but by a test tube.

A provisional ban followed the discovery of meldonium in his system, a heart medication outlawed because of its impact on recovery and endurance. The case dragged on, leaving the Ukrainian winger frozen out of competitive football and forced into a lonely routine of individual training sessions, far from the rhythm and structure of a professional dressing room.

The turning point came in July. WADA reached an agreement with the English FA, and it was decided that the levels detected back in 2024 would not count as a positive test under current regulations. Just like that, the door reopened. Mudryk was free to play.

During the limbo, he tried to stay sharp. He worked alone, away from team tactics and match scenarios, doing what he could to preserve his speed and conditioning without the context that makes a winger truly dangerous. De Zerbi, though, never lost faith in the player he knows better than most.

De Zerbi’s trust and a “normal player” again

The Italian spoke with a calm certainty about how Mudryk will be handled at Spurs.

“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. No special treatment. No sentimental selections. Just performance.

That is striking, given their shared history. De Zerbi guided Mudryk’s breakout at Shakhtar Donetsk, a period that transformed the winger from raw prospect into one of Europe’s most coveted forwards. Their bond deepened during the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine, when football and life blurred under extraordinary pressure.

De Zerbi reflected on that connection, and on the talent that survived the turbulence.

“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.

Chelsea price tag, Tottenham reset

The move to Tottenham offers Mudryk a clean slate after a bruising spell at Chelsea, where a massive transfer fee hung over him like a storm cloud. He never truly settled at Stamford Bridge, his flashes of brilliance drowned out by inconsistency, expectation and, eventually, the suspension.

He even reappeared briefly under Xabi Alonso at Chelsea during their pre-season tour, training and travelling but still wrestling with the weight of nearly two years without a competitive match. That drought remains the key concern for Spurs’ staff as they ease him into the Premier League grind once again.

De Zerbi, though, pointed to the valuation Chelsea once placed on him as proof that the underlying quality has not vanished.

“He has to feel this season, to live this season in the right way, not too much pressure,” the Spurs boss said. “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.”

Tottenham now hope to benefit from that original judgement. The “football father” who lit the fuse in Ukraine is back in charge, this time in north London, with a player desperate to justify the faith that once led to Ballon d’Or talk.

The minutes may be limited this weekend. The impact doesn’t have to be.