Mykhailo Mudryk is ready “to play part of the game” for Tottenham Hotspur in their Premier League fixture against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, according to Roberto De Zerbi.Mudryk, 25, has not featured in a matchday squad since Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Heidenheim in the Conference League in November 2024, and has missed nearly two years of action due to a doping ban.A low concentration of meldonium, a heart disease medication which can help athlete recovery and improve endurance, was found in the Ukraine international’s system and he was handed a provisional suspension in December 2024.In July, WADA came to an agreement with the English Football Association, allowing Mudryk to return to football immediately. The amount of meldonium found in his body in 2024 would not have been reported as a positive test today.Mudryk had been involved with Chelsea’s first-team since joining up with Xabi Alonso’s team on their pre-season tour in July, and played a combined 12 minutes across two friendlies against Juventus and AC Milan. During his ban, Mudryk continued training individually, but was not involved in organised or team sessions.He joined Tottenham on loan at the end of the transfer window and, despite not playing competitively in almost two years, De Zerbi thinks he can play a part at the City Ground.Have Spurs had a good or a bad window?Jay Harris and Rachael Tinde“I don’t know how much time he needs to be available to start the game,” the Spurs head coach said in his pre-match press conference. “One part of the game, I think he’s ready right now to play 20, 15, 30 minutes.”Mudryk worked under De Zerbi at Shakhtar Donetsk, with the Italian promoting the winger from their reserve side after loan spells at Arsenal Kyiv and Desna Chernihiv. Mudryk enjoyed a breakthrough season with De Zerbi, making his Champions League debut and winning the club’s player of the year award in an unfinished season due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. De Zerbi left to join Brighton and Hove Albion, and before Mudryk’s €70m (about £62m at the time) transfer to Chelsea, he suggested his former player had the potential to win the Ballon d’Or.“We spent a very particular season together in Shakhtar when the war started; we were together. When I spoke about the Ballon d’Or, I was very clear. Maybe my English is not so good, but I was very clear because I was speaking about the potential of the player. The potential of the player can be the same and can respect the prediction or not. Until now, he has had many problems.“In Ukraine, it was a very emotional season, no? Because we were building a great team, and when the war started, everything finished. We kept in touch with him and with the other players. Now I think he’s a normal player like (Micky) Van de Ven, like another player. If he deserves it, he will play or not. We have to see the physical condition first of all, and then how he can adapt to a new team, in a new club, in a new style of play.”Mudryk struggled to translate his form from the Ukrainian Premier League and Champions League with Shakhtar to Chelsea. In 53 league matches, Mudryk scored five goals and failed to nail down a spot as a starter, though he worked under five head coaches in less than 18 months in west London before he was banned.“The last problem, the suspension, but by the end the potential was clear, is clear, and now his challenge is to respect all his qualities, because he’s a great player,” De Zerbi added. “He has to feel this season, to live this season in the right way, not too much pressure. It is the right moment for him to show all people things because if Chelsea paid 100 million four years ago — they bought a lot of big, big players, no? — they thought very well about the qualities of Mudryk.”Mudryk is one of 10 players De Zerbi has recruited this summer, joining on the same day as Tosin Adarabioyo, who became the first player to leave Chelsea for Spurs on a permanent deal since Carlo Cudicini in 2009. Despite the additions of forwards Savio and Omar Marmoush, Mudryk was signed to bolster the depth at left wing, after missing out on Iliman Ndiaye, who joined Manchester City from Everton on deadline day.