Enzo Maresca has said Mykhailo Mudryk needs to “disconnect” from Chelsea as he awaits the outcome of a Football Association (FA) investigation into a failed drugs test.
The 23-year-old winger was provisionally suspended last week after returning a positive “A” sample in October.
Sources have told ESPN that the prohibited substance was meldonium and administered while he was out of the country.
Mudryk wrote on Instagram that he was “shocked” by the news and sources have suggested he believes his sample was contaminated.
The Ukraine international, who is also under investigation by Chelsea with the club insisting he “has never knowingly used any banned substances,” could face a multi-year ban if found guilty by the FA.
Mudryk was spotted ringside at last Saturday’s boxing heavyweight title fight between his countryman Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury.
When asked if he had been given time away from Chelsea, Maresca said: “In this moment it’s also good he can disconnect a little bit from the situation. The last time I spoke with him, we tried to support him but in this moment we are waiting.”
Maresca also backed his former club Manchester City to overcome their malaise to fight for the Premier League title this season.
City have lost nine of their last 12 games across all competitions and sit in seventh place, 12 points adrift of leaders Liverpool.
“I think Man City at the end will be there,” Maresca added. “They are in a moment that never happened before. Every time they play a game, they have some injuries. They don’t have enough players in this moment.
“The ones they have are probably not 100 per cent because they just come back from injury. It’s a very bad situation but I think it is for everyone when something like this happens.”