Mudryk denials put him – and his manager – in difficult situation at the worst possible moment | OneFootball

The last few press conferences have been a breeze for Enzo Maresca – things are going so well that the only awkward questions he has to deal with are denying his team are in the title race.

But Chelsea being Chelsea – and football being football – there was inevitably going to be something around the corner to blow the whole thing up, and in this case it’s Mykahilo Muryk’s failed doping test.

Today’s pre Conference League presser was the first since the news broke, and of course Maresca had to speak a lot about the situation.

Mudryk’s A sample has returned positive, now all we can do is await the results of the B sample. The winger has denied it all, of course. And his manager is backing him – at least for now.

“We trust, believe and support Mischa [Mudryk]” was the manager’s line.

Denials only dig trouble deeper for player and manager

Enzo Maresca in a full time interview with Chelsea TV.

There are two problems for Mudryk here. Of course Maresca can say he and the players and staff back the player, but in the end it’s incredibly unlikely that the B sample comes back as anything other than positive.

The other problem is that as someone who likes to promote himself as a proper gym rat, the weight of probability and public opinion is already against him, no matter his claims.

Defending the player also puts Maresca in a difficult position if (or more likely, when) the B sample comes back positive. Does the manager then say – “actually we don’t believe Mudryk” or does he say “there’s been a terrible miscarriage of justice” or what?

There’s no easy way out for the manager of course – if the player says he’s innocent, he’s got to back him. But this is certainly the last thing he wanted now.