Major Blow For Chelsea With New Signing Sidelined For MONTHS After Knee Operation

Chelsea’s new signing, Christopher Knunku, could be out for several months after having an operation for a knee injury he picked up during a pre-season friendly.

The 25-year-old French international went down early in the match after tangling with Mats Hummels, the Borussia Dortmund defender.

Knunku managed to stay on the field but was eventually forced to retire about halfway through the first half. A subsequent scan of his knee showed that the former RB Leipzig star had suffered a meniscus injury. He has since undergone an operation.

The Chelsea coach refused to blame the pitch

While Mauricio Pochettino chose not to blame the state of Chicago’s Soldier Field for the injury, it has to be said that the pitch was not in the best of conditions following an Ed Sheeran concert there just days previously.

With three goals in five games on their tour of the US, Knunku looked like he was going to set the Premier League on fire this season.

His recovery time is now a major setback for the Blues, who face a tricky opening fixture with the visit of Liverpool to Stamford Bridge this Sunday 13.

Speaking of the incident that put his £52m (approx €60.3m) signing out of action, Pochettino said:  ‘It is not about complaining. Always we take some risks because the pitch is not perfect and that is sometimes the risk of the tour, yes’.

He continued: ‘It was a bit unlucky in the situation but we cannot complain about the pitch and blame the pitch for why he suffered the injury. For me, it was bad luck’, as reported by standard.co.uk. this Wednesday, August 10.

Top players have left Chelsea this summer

The Argentine has been heavily involved in shipping players out of the club after replacing Frank Lampard. Some top names have walked out through the exit doors this summer, including Mason Mount who is now a Manchester United player.

His former captain, Cesar Azpilicueta is now in La Liga with Atletico Madrid, along with Joao Felix after his loan spell was terminated.

Mateo Kovacic joined Manchester City, Kai Havertz is now at Arsenal, Serie A giants AC Milan snapped up Christian Pulisic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang signed for Marseille in Ligue 1.

N’Kolo Kante, Edouardo Mendy and Kalidou Koulibaly opted for lucrative offers to go and play in the Saudi Pro League. Hakim Ziyech also wanted to make the same move but failed a medical with Al-Nassr.