After waiting for most of the season to see him fit and then being let down by multiple false starts, most Chelsea fans had really given up on seeing Christopher Nkunku this season. Even when Mauricio Pochettino told us about 6 weeks ago that the attacker was going to be back in about 6 weeks, we didn’t pay too much attention – and that’s been proven a wise move by the latest update.
The coach’s response to a question about when we might next see the former Leipzig man really summed up the total disconnect between medical staff, coaching staff, players and fans. Nobody knows what is going on, who is out with what and for how long. And that’s despite the new injury reports every week.
“I don’t know. Still, we don’t know. At the moment we do not know when it is possible for him to start training with the team. At the moment he is not training with us,” the coach explained.
“[A setback] did not happen. I have no information about that. His recovery is taking longer than we expected. That was after the final (League Cup final). He played in the final with a problem that we did not know about and found after the game.
“There are different circumstances that affect things. It is not only him. Too many players have suffered injuries this season.
“We hope that he can be involved again quickly. As soon as possible. It will be really good if he can join the team again before the end of the season. We hope that will happen.”
We’re not counting on Nkunku and haven’t been since he got this “issue” back in February. If and when he does return, it will be too late in the season to make much of a difference, and our final league position will likely have been all but decided.
Of course it will be a nice fillip for him and the fans to see him back in Blue in the early summer sun, but nothing more than that. As we have been all season, we’re going to have to rely on others to carry the load up front. Nicolas Jackson, Mykhailo Mudryk, Raheem Sterling and Cole Palmer have all shown themselves to have exceptional attributes along the way, even if none is the complete package.
