Mykhailo Mudryk has rejoined Chelsea training after a 20-month absence, but the winger’s place in the club’s plans is still far from settled.

The Ukraine international is back with the Blues on their preseason tour in Asia after his doping ban was reduced following changes to World Anti-Doping Agency technical documents. The original four-year suspension handed down by the England Football Association had been reconsidered because the Meldonium concentration in the sample that triggered the case would no longer be treated as a “positive test” under the updated guidance. Mudryk, Chelsea and WADA then reached an agreement that clears the 25-year-old to return after almost two years away, ending what he described as the “most difficult period of his career.”

His comeback comes into a very different Chelsea environment. Since his last appearance, the club has moved through the Enzo Maresca era and beyond, with Liam Rosenior, Callum McFarlane and now Xabi Alonso all having been in charge. The left side of the team has also changed significantly. Jadon Sancho and João Félix, who were rivals for minutes when Mudryk last played, have both departed, while Jamie Gittens and record signing Morgan Rogers are now the main competition. Alejandro Garnacho also came and went during the suspension.

Alonso has already made clear that he wants to work with Mudryk, calling the ban lift “great news.”

“He is coming to Hong Kong [for preseason],” Alonso said after Chelsea’s friendly vs. Tottenham . “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 teammates and staff. For sure it will take time, but once he is with us, we will see how things develop.”

Alonso also praised the qualities he saw before at Shakhtar and admitted the winger needs time to regain rhythm. That matters, because Mudryk is still trying to establish himself after a difficult spell at Chelsea following his January 2023 move worth up to $108.4 million (€100 million, £89 million). He has 10 goals in 73 appearances, and reports say three Premier League clubs, including Frank Lampard’s newly-promoted Coventry City, have already asked about him. A sale looks unlikely, but a loan may be possible.

Liverpool may soon have to confront a significant transfer call over Cody Gakpo, with Tottenham Hotspur increasing their pursuit of the forward.

The club are not actively placing him on the market, but the situation could shift quickly. Fabrizio Romano says Tottenham “plan to step up their efforts” to sign Gakpo and that “talks will enter into key stages soon.”

No asking price has been set, though Liverpool would be expected to demand a substantial return on the $45 million (£37 million) they paid PSV Eindhoven in December 2022. With the Reds already short of wingers, any sale would need to be weighed carefully, especially with only a month left in the transfer window.

Gakpo’s case is complicated by his own form. Last season, his goal tally fell sharply compared with the year before. He scored only nine goals in 2025-26, and just two of those came between the start of February and the end of May. That decline inevitably brought scrutiny, particularly because his play became easier to read as he repeatedly looked to cut inside onto his right foot.

Liverpool supporters grew frustrated with those predictable patterns, and the lack of end product did little to ease concerns. The forward had hoped the World Cup would offer a reset, even though his three goals there were overshadowed by the tragic news of his wife’s miscarriage just days before the round of 32 defeat to Morocco.

He has been given extra time away this summer and has not yet linked up with new boss Iraola or his teammates for pre-season.

Liverpool, meanwhile, are focused on adding wingers rather than losing them. Following Salah’s departure on a free transfer, Iraola has limited wide options, even with Victor Muñoz included. Alongside Muñoz and Gakpo, there are only two natural wide men, while Federico Chiesa wants to stay and fight for his place and Rio Ngumoha is still only 17.

Florian Wirtz is now expected to be used in midfield, Harvey Elliott may yet leave, and Hugo Ekitiké could be a left-wing option when fit, though his Achilles rupture means a possible return only in 2027. Liverpool’s interest in Bradley Barcola underlines the need for reinforcements, and if Gakpo departed, two wingers would likely be required.

The final call may rest with Tottenham. If a huge bid arrives, perhaps even above $80 million (£60 million), Liverpool will have to decide whether to cash in or back Gakpo to recover his form.

Since BlueCo arrived at Chelsea, the club’s recruitment has been defined by one idea: target the game’s most exciting young talent. That approach has now been tempered by a different priority, with Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson arriving from Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford respectively.

Together, the pair bring 863 Premier League appearances into Xabi Alonso’s squad. It is also the first time in four years that Chelsea have paid a transfer fee for a player older than 26, a striking departure from the model that has shaped the club’s recent business.

Alonso has already offered the clearest explanation for the change. After his first match in charge, a 6-4 friendly win over Western Sydney Wanderers, he spoke about the need for greater balance across the squad. He said: “I’m sure that from today to the last day of the transfer [window], there will be a lot of links, a lot of rumors, so to be commenting on all of them, it’s going to be a hard task.

“But for sure, we need proper balance in terms of qualities, in terms of positions, in terms of balance. We want to have a complete squad and we want to make a good team.”

He also added: “You need the right balance of personalities, of maturity stages, [players in their] early twenties, early thirties and in between, players in different stages of their careers. There is not a formula for that, but there is a feeling for it.”

That point matters given the make-up of Chelsea’s squad under BlueCo. Before Welbeck and Henderson arrived, the oldest players were 28. Of the 24 players who made at least 10 appearances last season, 62.5% are aged 23 or under. Even more notably, Chelsea have not selected a player over 30 in any match over the last two years.

Welbeck and Henderson are unlikely to be regular starters, particularly with Chelsea not in Europe next season. But both offer something the squad has lacked: experience, leadership and steady influence in the dressing room and on the training pitch.

Welbeck also arrives with a useful scoring record, having netted 25 times across his last two seasons with Brighton. Henderson, meanwhile, was selected in Thomas Tuchel’s group in North America for his attitude and leadership qualities. He played once before breaking his arm in postmatch celebrations against Mexico, yet his presence still made an impression, including on Morgan Rogers.

“The best guy I’ve ever come across in football,” Rogers said of Henderson while on World Cup duty. “If people did a blind ranking of people they want at the camp beforehand, he’d be in everyone’s top five.”