Chelsea forward Mykhailo Mudryk has been provisionally suspended from football after he was informed of a positive drugs test by the English Football Association, as the club open an investigation into the incident.

The Ukrainian has been unavailable for Chelsea’s last five matches across all competitions. Daily Mail reported that the player’s absence was due to a suspected adverse analytical finding of the banned substance meldonium.

As per the FA rules, Mudryk has been notified of the test result and can subsequently be provisionally suspended. He is then provided a chance to respond with an explanation before a decision is made on a potential charge.

According to Daily Mail, Chelsea have launched an investigation into the matter as there is a belief that the contamination may have occurred outside the United Kingdom because the substance involved is unavailable in the country. 

“Chelsea Football Club can confirm the Football Association recently contacted our player Mykhailo Mudryk concerning an adverse finding in a routine urine test,” Chelsea said in a statement. “Both the Club and Mykhailo fully support The FA’s testing programme and all our players, including Mykhailo, are regularly tested. Mykhailo has confirmed categorically that he has never knowingly used any banned substances.”

Meanwhile, the player is still waiting for the test result of sample ‘B’ to know whether or not it confirms the findings of his ‘A’ sample. 

“I know that I have not done anything wrong and remain hopeful that I will be back on the pitch soon. I cannot say any more now due to the confidentiality of the process, but I will as soon as I can,” Mudryk said in a statement.