Mykhailo Mudryk's Impressive Return to Chelsea

Tosin Adarabioyo did not reach for clichés when asked about Mykhailo Mudryk. He reached for something stronger.

“Misha is a freak.”

There was no malice in it, only admiration. After what Mudryk has been through, it sounded almost like a badge of honour.

Mudryk back under the lights

On a humid night at Kai Tak Stadium in Hong Kong, with more than 43,000 inside, Mudryk stepped back onto a pitch in Chelsea colours for the first time since November 2024. The scoreboard read Juventus 1-0 Chelsea, the game already edging towards its conclusion, but the noise belonged to the Ukrainian.

His return followed last week’s confirmation from the FA that a resolution had been reached over his anti-doping disciplinary proceedings. Twenty months away from the team. Twenty months of working in the shadows. And yet, after only a handful of training sessions back with the squad, there he was, stripped and ready.

This was not a token cameo either. Xabi Alonso had told Mudryk before kick-off that he wanted him for the final 10 to 15 minutes. Every Chelsea player on the pitch by then had come on in the second half, but one change had been pre-arranged. Nicolas Jackson had agreed he would give up his place so Mudryk could feel that moment again.

The reaction when he came on was instant. Predictable, yes. But still powerful. A roar that felt less like polite encouragement and more like a welcome-back ceremony.

“Misha is my guy”

Inside the dressing room, nobody sounded remotely shocked that Mudryk was in good enough condition to feature so soon.

“Misha is my guy,” Adarabioyo said. “I have kept in contact with him throughout and it is really nice to have him back. I am really happy for him.

“You can see he is just really happy to be around and back in the environment. It is obviously going to take him some time but we are all here to support him.”

The word that kept coming back was “work”. Not talent, not potential. Work.

“Misha is a freak. His work rate is unbelievable,” Tosin explained. “There is no doubt he has been working hard throughout this whole time. I know he has been doing sessions away, I have seen him. I know the guys he has been working with so it's good.”

Asked if Mudryk’s fitness had surprised him after such a long absence, the defender barely paused.

“No, not at all. Like I just said I know Misha really well, his work rate is phenomenal, so I am not surprised at all.”

For Chelsea, that matters. A winger with pace to burn is one thing. A winger who has spent 20 months refusing to let his standards drop is something else entirely.

From ‘Uncle Tosin’ to the new elders

Adarabioyo’s own role inside this Chelsea squad is shifting. For a while, at 28, he carried the slightly tongue-in-cheek title of “Uncle Tosin” – the elder statesman in a dressing room built around youth.

Not anymore.

Danny Welbeck, 35, and Jordan Henderson, 36, have arrived this summer, two seasoned Premier League campaigners dropped into a group still learning what it means to win consistently at the highest level.

“No, thank God,” Tosin laughed, when reminded he is no longer the “uncle”. “We have Welbeck now. I have known him for a long time just growing up in Manchester.”

Welbeck’s unofficial debut came in Hong Kong, leading the line for the opening 45 minutes before making way at the break. It was a gentle introduction, but his reputation precedes him.

“We have all seen that he scores goals,” Adarabioyo said. “He is a striker and he is here to help. The way that he can help is by scoring goals and I am sure he will do that.”

Henderson’s impact will be measured less in numbers and more in standards.

“Pure experience and at the same time, they are winners,” Tosin added. “They will bring that winning mentality to the club and hopefully we will continue that way.”

A different Chelsea taking shape

On one night in Hong Kong, the strands of Chelsea’s next chapter briefly came together. A winger back from the brink, a defender who never doubted him, and two veterans drafted in to stiffen the spine of a young, volatile squad.

Mudryk’s cameo did not change the result against Juventus. It did something else. It reminded everyone how quickly a player with his physical gifts and ferocious work ethic can re-enter the conversation.

If this is what he looks like after 20 months out, what happens when the rust is gone and the rhythm returns?