Valletta’s suffered a severe blow to their Premier League chances yesterday with the news that defender Jonathan Caruana had been handed a four-year suspension after failing an out-of-competition test last season.

The 31-year-old was provisionally suspended by the Malta Football Association after he returned a positive sample during an out-of-competition test conducted by the National Anti-Doping Organisation (NADO) back in March.

Jonathan Caruana... handed four-year doping suspension

The Malta international was informed by NADO that traces of a banned substance had been found in his blood sample. He was subsequently banned pending his hearing.

Caruana maintained his innocence and asked for a B sample.

He subsequently appeared in front of the NADO Disciplinary Commission and contested their findings, arguing that he did not make use of a banned substance and the outcome from the test was the result of contamination.

However, the NADO board contended that the player did not provide enough proof to show his innocence and handed him a four-year suspension from football.

The decision will be a hammer blow for Caruana who was hoping to resume his career after sitting out of competitive action for the past six months.

His absence will be sorely felt by Valletta as Caruana, who also skippered the team, was an influential figure in the City defence.

Caruana is expected to resume his fight to prove his innocence as according to NADO rules he can lodge an appeal against his suspension.