Ajax goalkeeper Andre Onana has been suspended for 12 months after he failed a doping test last year.
It has been confirmed by UEFA that the 24-year-old's suspension will be effective as of February 5th after an 'out-of-competition' check found the substance Furosemide in his urine sample.
It is being claimed that Onana "made a mistake with the product" and "mistakenly" took his wife's medicine on the day of the test back in October.
Ajax have released a statement on their official website, explaining the situation in further detail.
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"On the morning of October 30, Onana was feeling unwell." the statement reads. "He wanted to take a pill to ease the discomfort. Unknowingly, however, he took Lasimac, a drug that his wife had previously been prescribed.
"Onana's confusion resulted in him mistakenly taking his wife's medicine, ultimately causing this measure to be taken by UEFA against the goalkeeper. Furthermore, the disciplinary body of the football association has stated that Onana had no intention of cheating.
"However, the European Football Association believes, on the basis of the applicable anti-doping rules, that an athlete has a duty at all times to ensure that no banned substances enter the body.
"Onana and Ajax will appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)."
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Ajax's managing director Edwin van der Sar has called the decision a "terrible setback" for the Dutch club.
"We explicitly renounce performance-enhancing drugs, we obviously stand for a clean sport. This is a terrible setback, for Andre himself but certainly also for us as a club." he said.
"Andre is a top goalkeeper, who has proven his worth for Ajax for years and is very popular with the fans. We had hoped for a conditional suspension or for a suspension much shorter than these twelve months, because it was arguably not intended to strengthen his body and thus improve his performance."
It has been a torrid week for Ajax, who mistakenly left out record signing Sebastien Haller from their Europa League squad.
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The Eredivisie side paid €22.5 million to draft the Ivorian in from West Ham in the January window.
But bizarrely, it's been confirmed that the former Frankfurt striker was omitted from their European squad due to an error and he is set to be unavailable for their round of 32 clash against Lille this month.
"He is indeed not on the list, we are trying to find out what went wrong," Ajax spokesman Miel Brinkhuis told AD.
"We have contacted the KNVB and UEFA."
At this point it isn't clear if Ajax, the Dutch FA or UEFA were responsible for the mistake.
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Featured Image Credit: PA
Topics: SPORT, Football News, Football, Andre Onana, UEFA, Eredivisie, Ajax
