[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"header-nav":3,"footer-nav":29,"article-mudryk-chelsea-return-juventus-friendly-hong-kong":82,"category-counts-nav":97,"related-mudryk-chelsea-return-juventus-friendly-hong-kong":107},[4,8,11,14,17,20,23,26],{"label":5,"to":6,"exact":7},"Home","\u002F",true,{"label":9,"to":10},"World Cup","\u002Fworldcup",{"label":12,"to":13},"Standings","\u002Fstandings",{"label":15,"to":16},"Football","\u002Fcategory\u002Ffootball",{"label":18,"to":19},"Basketball","\u002Fcategory\u002Fbasketball",{"label":21,"to":22},"Tennis","\u002Fcategory\u002Ftennis",{"label":24,"to":25},"F1","\u002Fcategory\u002Ff1",{"label":27,"to":28},"Long Reads","\u002Fcategory\u002Flong-reads",{"brand":30,"columns":32,"tagline":80,"copyright":81},{"description":31},"In-depth sports journalism covering football, basketball, tennis, F1, and beyond. Daily analysis, long reads, and expert opinion.",[33,51,59],{"heading":34,"links":35},"Leagues",[36,39,42,45,48],{"label":37,"to":38},"Premier League","\u002Ftag\u002Fpremier-league",{"label":40,"to":41},"La Liga","\u002Ftag\u002Fla-liga",{"label":43,"to":44},"NBA","\u002Ftag\u002Fnba",{"label":46,"to":47},"Formula 1","\u002Ftag\u002Fformula-1",{"label":49,"to":50},"Champions League","\u002Ftag\u002Fchampions-league",{"heading":52,"links":53},"Content",[54,56,57],{"label":55,"to":16},"Analysis",{"label":27,"to":28},{"label":58,"to":16},"Data & Stats",{"heading":60,"links":61},"Company",[62,65,68,71,74,77],{"label":63,"to":64},"Terms of Service","\u002Fservice",{"label":66,"to":67},"Privacy Policy","\u002Fprivacy",{"label":69,"to":70},"Editorial Policy","\u002Feditorial",{"label":72,"to":73},"Contact Us","\u002Fcontact",{"label":75,"to":76},"About Us","\u002Fabout",{"label":78,"to":79},"Website Disclaimer","\u002Fdisclaimer","Built for the love of sport","© SportPulse. All rights reserved.",{"title":83,"slug":84,"category":85,"badge":86,"author":87,"excerpt":88,"date":89,"readTime":90,"image":91,"imageAlt":83,"tags":92,"body":95,"_path":96},"Mudryk Named in Chelsea Squad for Juventus Friendly After 20 Months Out","mudryk-chelsea-return-juventus-friendly-hong-kong","football","Football: Feature","Marcus Wright","Chelsea's Ukrainian winger edges toward a first taste of competitive action since a drugs suspension shelved his career.","2026-08-04 12:18:54","3 min read","https:\u002F\u002Fichef.bbci.co.uk\u002Face\u002Fstandard\u002F976\u002Fcpsprodpb\u002Fc9ad\u002Flive\u002Fe1e50c40-8ff5-11f1-a10e-47119dd4425c.jpg",[37,93,94],"Chelsea","Preseason","## Mudryk Back in Chelsea Squad for Juventus Friendly in Hong Kong\n\nMykhailo Mudryk has been named in Chelsea's travelling squad for Wednesday's friendly against **Juventus** in Hong Kong. The inclusion ends, or at least pauses, nearly **20 months** of enforced absence from match action.\n\nThe Ukrainian winger has not featured since news of a failed doping test surfaced in December 2023. He was provisionally suspended days later, cutting short a campaign that had begun to show faint signs of promise under then-head coach **Mauricio Pochettino**.\n\nSince that provisional ban, Chelsea have changed managers twice and recalibrated their attacking structure more times than anyone at Stamford Bridge cares to count. The club kept Mudryk on the payroll, did not push to terminate his contract, and quietly maintained his training regimen.\n\n## Friendly Availability, Not Competitive Confirmation\n\nThis is a friendly, staged in a commercial market. Mudryk's presence on the squad sheet signals availability rather than a guarantee of minutes.\n\nChelsea face **Juventus** at the **Hong Kong Stadium** as part of their preseason tour. If he appears, even briefly, it would be the winger's first match involvement since the suspension began.\n\n## £62 Million and Two Premier League Goals\n\nMudryk arrived from **Shakhtar Donetsk** for a fee reported to be in the region of **£62 million**, rising with add-ons to a potential **£88 million**, in the January 2023 window. Chelsea beat **Arsenal** to his signature and Todd Boehly's regime celebrated the deal as a marquee signing.\n\nHis Chelsea record before the suspension was modest. Across roughly 41 Premier League appearances, he registered two goals and a handful of assists. The transfer fee became a running source of frustration among supporters.\n\n## Where Mudryk Fits in Maresca's Pecking Order\n\nCurrent head coach **Enzo Maresca** inherits a crowded attacking department. **Noni Madueke**, **Cole Palmer**, **Pedro Neto**, and **Nicolas Jackson** have all featured prominently in preseason planning.\n\nMudryk, even with his ban lifted, sits behind that group in the current hierarchy. A Hong Kong appearance would be less about staking a claim to a starting role and more about demonstrating physical readiness after more than a year and a half without competitive football.\n\nMudryk maintained he did not knowingly ingest a banned substance, a position Chelsea publicly backed. The timeline of the case has remained opaque, with the club working behind closed doors to manage both the regulatory process and the player's training load.\n\n## The Squad Reception\n\nAccording to reports from Chelsea's tour camp, the mood around Mudryk's potential return has been positive. Players and staff have treated his availability as a quiet boost rather than a dramatic event.\n\n> We have been waiting for him. The most important thing is he is back with us and available. We will see what happens.\n\nThose around the squad describe Mudryk as visibly emotional at being back in a matchday frame, even for a friendly. After 20 months of training in isolation or with the club's sports science team, the return to squad selection is its own milestone.\n\n## 23, Raw Pace, and Thinning Margins\n\nTwenty months without competitive football strips a player of two things that are difficult to rebuild: match sharpness and rhythm under pressure.\n\nMudryk is **23 years old**, still within the window where a stalled career can recover trajectory. The margins are thinner now. Every preseason opportunity has to be maximized.\n\nMaresca's system favors wide players who can pin back fullbacks and isolate in one-on-one situations. Mudryk's raw pace has always been his most bankable attribute. If he can rediscover that burst in Hong Kong, a tactical reentry becomes conceivable by September.\n\nMudryk's inclusion in the Juventus friendly squad does not answer the questions about his suspension, his price tag, or his long-term suitability to Maresca's project. It extends a timeline that many assumed was closed. Chelsea have not written off a **£62 million-plus** investment. Maresca now has another attacking option, however raw, to evaluate across the remaining preseason fixtures. And Mudryk has a chance to prove that the most expensive footnote of the Boehly era might still become a footballer.","\u002Farticles\u002Fmudryk-chelsea-return-juventus-friendly-hong-kong",[98,99,100,101,85,102,103,104,105,106],"analysis","basketball","cricket","f1","general","golf","mma","long-reads","tennis",[108,122,134],{"id":109,"stem":109,"path":110,"title":111,"category":85,"badge":112,"badgeType":113,"author":114,"authorRole":115,"authorInitials":116,"date":117,"readTime":118,"image":119,"imageAlt":111,"tags":120,"excerpt":121},"durham-womens-future-saved-geoff-thompson-takeover","\u002Farticles\u002Fdurham-womens-future-saved-geoff-thompson-takeover","Durham Women Saved: Thompson Deal Ends Existential Threat","Feature","category","Sarah Martinez","Transfer Correspondent","SM","2026-06-25 07:20:15","5 min read","https:\u002F\u002Fichef.bbci.co.uk\u002Face\u002Fstandard\u002F976\u002Fcpsprodpb\u002F891d\u002Flive\u002Fb4cefb20-6f26-11f1-adf9-6fa2b518a522.jpg","WSL 2, Women's Super League, Women's Football","Geoff Thompson's majority takeover rescues Durham Women from the brink, reshaping WS2's competitive landscape.",{"id":123,"stem":123,"path":124,"title":125,"category":85,"badge":112,"badgeType":113,"author":126,"authorRole":127,"authorInitials":128,"date":129,"readTime":130,"image":131,"imageAlt":125,"tags":132,"excerpt":133},"virgil-van-dijk-netherlands-defensive-anchor-world-cup","\u002Farticles\u002Fvirgil-van-dijk-netherlands-defensive-anchor-world-cup","Why Van Dijk Remains the Tactical Bedrock of Netherlands' World Cup Ambitions","Elena Rossi","SportPulse Contributor","ER","2026-07-02 02:01:18","7 min read","https:\u002F\u002Fichef.bbci.co.uk\u002Face\u002Fstandard\u002F976\u002Fcpsprodpb\u002Fc4a4\u002Flive\u002F0cfd9da0-7225-11f1-a69f-29c4f147006f.jpg","Netherlands, World Cup, Liverpool, Eredivisie","Olivier Giroud's praise for Van Dijk underlines a deeper truth about the Dutch captain's irreplaceable tactical role.",{"id":135,"stem":135,"path":136,"title":137,"category":85,"badge":112,"badgeType":113,"author":138,"authorRole":139,"authorInitials":140,"date":141,"readTime":142,"image":143,"imageAlt":137,"tags":144,"excerpt":145},"red-roses-100k-world-cup-retention-deal","\u002Farticles\u002Fred-roses-100k-world-cup-retention-deal","£100k Promise: Red Roses' 2029 World Cup Retention Gamble","James Chen","Senior Football Analyst","JC","2026-06-24 04:04:07","6 min read","https:\u002F\u002Fichef.bbci.co.uk\u002Face\u002Fstandard\u002F976\u002Fcpsprodpb\u002Facfc\u002Flive\u002Fb8c96d00-6ef4-11f1-99ba-6926a552b2e3.jpg","Women's Rugby World Cup, Six Nations, Red Roses","England's Red Roses are offered £100k each to retain the Women's Rugby World Cup in 2029, marking a financial shift in women's rugby."]