Mudryk has not featured for the Blues since November 2024 due to anti-doping proceedings, but the Football Association and the World Anti-Doping Agency confirmed yesterday they have now been resolved.

The 25-year-old is free to return to football and will join Alonso’s squad in Hong Kong. Yet the Chelsea manager insists patience must be afforded to the Ukraine international.

‘He is coming to Hong Kong,’ said Alonso. ‘We are happy for him – especially for him. We probably are not able to understand what he has been through in this time, and how he feels in this moment with the things he's had to cope with.

‘We want him to feel part of a team because he has been training on his own for a long time. He has the support of everyone, from the club, from his team-mates and staff. For sure it will take time, but once he is with us, we will see how things develop.’

Alonso continued: ‘To have the Mudryk we had will take time, but now there is a change, things start moving. For him, it’s a massive change.

‘He has been training on his own every day; that must’ve been really, really hard because he wanted to play football and be part of a team – he was not allowed to do that for such a long time.

‘So once this big change has happened, now things move and we will see if it’s quicker, slower, but we need to be aware of that.’

Mudryk joined the Blues in January 2023 from Shakhtar Donetsk and made 73 appearances for Chelsea, scoring ten goals, before his career at Stamford Bridge was brought to a temporary halt.

Alonso is looking forward to working with Mudryk once he joins up with the Blues squad in Asia, adding he is a long-time admirer of the winger’s talents.

He said: ‘I remember watching him at Shakhtar, the impact he had, how good he is. How good he is in one-v-one situations and how he could create a lot of situations on his own. He is a special player, but it will take time for sure.

‘We were not expecting to have this great news at this moment; we are very happy and we feel he will really help us.’