Christopher Nkunku has had a pretty nightmare run at Chelsea since signing for £52m (Sky Sports) in the summer.
He was injured before the season started, got injured again the moment he returned, and since recovering from that setback hasn’t been able to force his way into Mauricio Pochettino’s team.
An update from the club today listed Nkunku once again as potentially hurt. We hadn’t seen any signs of this, so the Pochettino was asked about the issue in his press conference. His answer was pretty puzzling:
“We learned yesterday Nkunku got injured but we don’t know when he got injured,” the coach said.
But later he suddenly had a lot of information to hand:
“We need to see and evaluate every day, but he’s out for three or four weeks. We hope no more.
“It’s difficult for him. We watched him when he arrived in pre-season. He was flying in training until he got injured. Now it is nearly eight months and he has been involved again but he’s not yet the same player as before. We have in our head the amazing Nkunku from pre-season but he’s not the same because of the circumstances. That’s why it is sometimes unfair to judge.”
So despite initially claiming that he didn’t know much about it, and despite the injury report being very vague, it seems that the injury has been diagnosed pretty effectively in 24 hours. We know that he’s going to be out for a matter of months.
Let’s hope Nkunku is “the same player as before” when he finally is back and playing regularly. This is already looking like a totally wasted season for him.
