Breaking News: ‘Big Issue’ Emerges At Chelsea Amid Latest Blow

Mauricio Pochettino has admitted he hopes Christopher Nkunku’s injury doesn’t turn out to be a ‘big issue’ for Chelsea after the Frenchman hobbled off in a pre-season friendly.

Nkunku has been very impressive thus far in pre-season linking up well with fellow new signing Nicolas Jackson and the pair looked to be a deadly duo heading into the new season and new dawn under Pochettino. That was until a cruel injury blow occurred out in America.

The Frenchman has been the marquee signing of the Pochettino era thus far for Chelsea and many will have expected him to lead the line or at least carry the burden of scoring goals for the Blues this upcoming campaign, but their plans have now been thrown into disarray with the Frenchman needing to be subbed off against Borussia Dortmund.

Chelsea sweat over Nkunku’s injury

Pochettino was forced into an early substitution yesterday as Nkunku went down with what looked to be a painful injury and knock to his knee, although the Chelsea boss was unwilling to blame the pitch they were playing on, despite it being designed and used for American football, which also sees a lot of knee injuries occur during the season.

Chelsea’s £52 million signing had managed to net three times during their pre-season tour of America, but will now have to be assessed before the club can announce the severity of the attacker’s injury, with fans nervous over how serious it could turn out to be given the premature nature of his substitution.

Nkunku get well soon! We need you pic.twitter.com/9H6YTU1ddE

— Bob_Marley (@NiiMarleys) August 3, 2023

“The doctors are checking him and I hope it is not a big issue. He fell in the action which was maybe a penalty and he feels something in his knee but we hope it is nothing big,” said Pochettino. We hope he can be back quickly with the team. We need a few days to assess him.

Pochettino coy over the severity of injury

“We took some risks because the pitch is not perfect because the facilities are used for a different sport. We won’t blame the pitch for the injury though. For me, it was bad luck.”

Pochettino will be hoping this sort of luck runs its course during pre-season and doesn’t carry on over into the regular campaign, because after last term, Chelsea can’t afford back-to-back disappointing seasons and will need their very best players fit and firing from the off.