Mauricio Pochettino has admitted he is unsure whether Christopher Nkunku will feature again this season.
It has been an injury-ravaged season for the 26-year-old who arrived from RB Leipzig with high hopes.
He has been limited to just 12 appearances in all competitions for the Blues this season and scored twice in the Premier League with goals against Wolves and Liverpool per WhoScored.
Nkunku’s injury woes started in pre-season when the £52m signing picked up an injury against Borussia Dortmund which ruled him out for the first four months of the campaign, and he’s suffered further niggles since.
The French international had been working his way back to full fitness when he was introduced as a substitute in the Carabao Cup final defeat to Liverpool at the end of February.
During this cameo which included playing the thirty minutes of extra time, Nkunku picked up another injury which only came to light afterwards, with Pochettino initially believing he would be out for three or four weeks.
Will Nkunku play again this season?
Six and a half weeks have now elapsed since Nkunku’s injury and he is still not back in training, with Pochettino still unsure if the Frenchman will play any part in the run-in.
The 52-year-old was asked during his pre-match press conference if he felt Nkunku would play again this season and said: “I don’t know, I don’t know. Still we don’t know.”
The forward appeared to have suffered a setback in his recovery but Pochettino argued against a supposed previous estimate he had given.
“To return to training? I don’t know if I said six weeks. At the moment we don’t know when it’s possible to start to train with the team,” the Argentine added.
“At the moment he’s not training with us. That setback that you say didn’t happen, I don’t have information about that.
“His recovery was longer than we expected. That was after the Carabao Cup final if you remember, that I talked, where he played in the final 30 or 40 minutes with a problem and we didn’t know and then we found out after the game.
“This type of circumstance, that affects in the end, overall, other things. Because it’s not only him. Too many players suffer this season.
“And, of course, it would be really, really good if, before the end of the season, we can come with him and be part of the team again. Hope, hope, that happens.”
Chelsea are languishing in 12th in the Premier League following Bournemouth’s victory over Crystal Palace and face a crunch game against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on Thursday.