Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu has admitted taking an illegal substance,
according to the PFA's chief executive Gordon Taylor.


Taylor says Mutu will seek leniency from the FA after the Romanian
international confirmed he had taken cocaine.

"We had a meeting with him yesterday and there will be correspondence
with the FA and there will be a hearing proceeded with as quickly as
possible, without the second sample being tested," Taylor told
Skysports.

"He has accepted he did test positive for cocaine and we will have to
deal with it under the social drugs procedure which we have in line
with the FA.

"There is a distinction between social drugs and performance
enhancing and if the player accepts he is guilty and is prepared to
undergo rehabilitation, to be checked regularly and be clean, there
is a greater sympathy towards the player than if he had not accepted
it or if it was performance enhancing.

"WADA (The World Anti-Doping Association) is reluctant to have such a
distinction, so that may well create a problem.

"He is a valuable player who has had personal problems and things
have not gone well at Chelsea. It needs the club's involvement with
the player to get back on track and I also hope the FA commission
will take that into account as well.

"It is possible for a club to have a player tested if there have been
such problems and they can have a contract cancelled. If they do it
with Adrian, it would be a substantial amount to write off. So they
have as much interest in getting him back on track as we have.

"We will have a hearing at the FA and then there will be a commission
where it will be decided what action to take."

The 25-year-old has scored six times in 27 Premiership outings for
the Blues since his £15.8million move from Parma in August 2003, but
has seen just 49 minutes of first-team action this season.

He fell out with Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho this season and was
reported to have failed to turn up for training last week after a
furious row with the former FC Porto manager