Chelsea terminated the forward's contract with immediate effect after he tested positive for cocaine and now Mutu, 25, faces a Football Association (FA) ban that could keep him out of English football for two years.

"Chelsea have destroyed me - I don't know what I am going to do. I am shocked and surprised by their decision," Mutu told the Sunday Mirror.

"I didn't expect them to pay me while I was suspended but I never thought they would sack me either.

"Why didn't they wait to do this? Now my career is in ruins.

"I might as well walk away from football. What is there left for me?"

Chelsea have come in for strong criticism from the Professional Footballers' Association, whose chief executive Gordon Taylor accused the club of target-testing Mutu "with a view to getting rid of him" and insisted they had a "duty of care" to aid the striker in his rehabilitation.

Those sentiments were echoed by the player himself, who feels the club should have at least waited until the FA had sentenced him.

Mutu added: "It is unfair. If they were going to sack me they should have done it afterwards. Why did they go public? To make an example of me? It makes it very difficult for me now."

Meanwhile, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said he would be prepared to sign Mutu even though he was booted out of Stamford Bridge.

But while the champions' manager backed Chelsea's action he said he would be prepared to talk to Mutu when any ban expired.

Wenger said: "At the moment, I don't even wonder if that could happen because I think he will be suspended for a long period.

"But he will be like everybody else once he has been suspended. He has the right again to start from zero and to be open to any negotiations. I would then meet the player and see what he tells me," the Frenchman added.

"There are other players in this country who have been considered to be positive and they have played again for big clubs.

"There will be clubs who will give him a chance. One he has paid for it, you cannot say never.