Chelsea goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina is set to be sidelined for up to six weeks with a finger injury picked up whilst on loan at Barnsley.
The American joined Chelsea in the summer of 2022 from MLS side Chicago Fire for a fee in the region of £12m, but has yet to play a competitive game for the club.
The 20-year-old spent last season on loan in Belgium with KAS Eupen where me made 34 appearances in all competitions and kept five clean sheets.
Slonina set to miss six weeks with finger injury
The decision was taken to send the shot stopper on loan to League One side Barnsley in the summer and he;’s made 14 appearances in all competitions so far, including 11 in the league.
Slonina made a good start to life at Oakwell, which included some penalty shootout heroics in the Carabao Cup, but he recently lost his place in the side for what was labelled as a dip in form by Barnsley coach Darrell Clarke.
After being left out of the side against Shrewsbury it’s subsequently been confirmed Slonina will be sidelined for around six weeks with a finger injury, as per Chelsea’s official website.
Barnsley currently sit fifth in League One and Slonina will hope to return to action in December to help Barnsley have a strong second half of the season, and hopefully secure promotion to the Championship.
Quite what Chelsea’s plan for Slonina is remains unclear, but given they signed youngster Mike Penders over the summer it’s clear the American doesn’t feature in their long term plans.
It was recently reported that Chelsea have a strong belief in both Penders and Jorgensen for the future, and it feels like Slonina will be sold in the next season or two given the amount of keepers Chelsea currently have on their books.
