Barred from Chelsea's training ground and unable to work with club staff throughout his suspension, the Ukraine winger instead used the 3G pitch at seventh-tier Uxbridge FC to keep himself sharp from early 2026 until his ban was lifted at the end of July. Just over a month later, he completed a deadline-day loan to Tottenham, reuniting with his old Shakhtar Donetsk manager Roberto De Zerbi.
Uxbridge chairman Mark Bantock told The Sun the club watched Mudryk's dedication firsthand over several months.
"I wouldn't know the intricacies of his case, but he's a young man trying to make his living and, obviously, desperate to play football," Bantock said. "I assume it was unknown to him the timelines of when everything was going to happen.
"But he made the commitment to keeping himself in good shape and honing his football skills during the course of his ban. One way to look back on it is that by doing that, he's now in a position to sign for Tottenham, so you've got to give him a lot of credit for that."
Mudryk trained at Uxbridge's Honeycroft ground two or three times a week, initially bringing his own private trainer, a goalkeeper and someone to film his sessions for analysis. In the weeks before his ban was lifted, the sessions grew more intense, with up to ten other players brought in for mini-games involving crossing and dribbling drills.
"The other lads that he got in here were invariably young, probably non-league footballers at a much lower level to him, so he always stood out with his technique and his abilities as a footballer," Bantock said. "We tried to provide him with privacy, so we always made a point of not trying to be sitting out there watching and staring. He was always very polite. There were no long conversations — I don't know how fluent his English is.
"We got used to seeing each other on a head-nodding basis, as it were. But he was always very respectful of us and our facility. He used to come, do what he did, and go."
Chelsea beat Arsenal to Mudryk's signature from Shakhtar in January 2023 for £88m, and he went on to score 10 goals in 73 appearances before his career stalled following an adverse finding for the banned substance meldonium in November 2024.
Bantock, who is a Chelsea season-ticket holder, admitted to mixed feelings about seeing his club's asset now plying his trade for a Premier League rival.