Following a further Chelsea injury setback, Christopher Nkunku will likely miss another month of action as Mauricio Pochettino acknowledges he is “not the same player as before.”
Due to an unidentified ailment, the French forward is being evaluated medically at the club, and Pochettino has stated that he could miss up to one month of action. The manager of Chelsea also acknowledged that the 26-year-old is not the same player he was at RB Leipzig.
The Argentine coach added, “We learned yesterday that Nkunku got injured, but we don’t know when he got injured,” in a statement to media. He’s gone for three or four weeks, but we still need to visit and assess him every day. Hopefully, not any longer. It’s challenging for him. When he first arrived in preseason, we watched him.
“Until he was hurt, he was flying on the training field. He has now been involved once more, but he has changed since the previous involvement, which was almost eight months ago. Though he is not the same player due to circumstances, we still envision the incredible Nkunku from the preseason. Because of this, making judgments can occasionally be unjust.
Nkunku missed the first part of the 2023–24 season due to a knee injury he sustained during the team’s preseason trip. Nkunku made his comeback to play on December 24, scoring his first goal for Chelsea in the team’s 2-1 loss to Wolves. [Checkout our Livescores page] He has played for the Blues in ten games across all competitions thus far, logging 394 minutes on the field and two goals. His most recent appearance was as a substitute in the team’s Carabao Cup final loss to Liverpool.
The Blues’ next game is scheduled for Wednesday in the FA Cup, where they will play Leeds United in the fifth round. Nkunku will undoubtedly miss that match as well as the Premier League trip to Brentford three days later while Pochettino gets a proper diagnosis on the forward’s most recent ailment.