Inter striker Mohamed Kallon could face a lengthy suspension after he tested positive for nandrolone.
The Sierra Leone international was found to have the banned anabolic steroid in his system after the September 27 game against Udinese.
The forward tested non-negative when norandrosterone and noretiocholanolone were detected in his sample.
The news comes just seven days after Parma midfielder Manuele Blasi also failed a drug test when he tested positive for norandrosterone.
Kallon, just 24, could face a suspension of anything between four and 16 months if the results of a second analysis also come back positive.
Despite this Inter claim that Kallon is clean.
Inter have released a statement assuring that the club regularly tested Mohamed Kallon and found no traces of nandrolone.
The Sierra Leone international failed a routine drug test following the September 27 0-0 draw at Udinese.
“Regarding the news that Kallon has failed a drug test,” read the statement, “Internazionale FC calmly awaits the completion of the analysis.”
“The player, along with the rest of the squad, is regularly tested by Professor Franco Lodi, a representative of the Institute of Legal Medicine at the University of Milan and an expert in forensic toxicology. All the tests have proved negative.”
Kallon is the second Serie A star in a week to test ‘non-negative’ for traces of nandrolone.
However, while Parma midfielder Manuele Blasi’s sample only contained one trace element of the anabolic steroid – norandrosterone – Kallon’s test appears to include both substances that usually point to nandrolone use.
Curiously, only ten days ago the Inter website had released another statement regarding drug use.
“Many Serie A and B clubs are under investigation for the number of anti-doping samples that are incorrectly sealed or analysed,” said the official Nerazzurri website. “Only one club is above any suspicion: Inter.”
Meanwhile, the drug scandal currently sweeping the world of sport may also spread to football.
The Acqua Acetosa laboratory in Rome, which tests all the anti-doping samples in Italian sport, will begin analysing past samples for the presence of newly discovered drug THG.
A specially created anabolic steroid, which was hitherto undetectable in ordinary testing, has been discovered and it is alleged that twenty athletes around the world have already tested positive with this new information.