Chelsea suffer injury blow as key figure expected to miss start of next season

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Chelsea have reportedly been dealt a setback as defender Antonio Rudiger could miss the start of next season due to his knee injury.

The 26-year-old was a key figure for the Blues last season, as he made 44 appearances across all competitions before missing the last five games of the campaign due to that knee injury.

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Ideally for both him and Chelsea, he would have had a full pre-season to complete his recovery and get back his match fitness in time for the 2019/20 campaign, but unfortunately for all concerned, it doesn’t appear as though that will be happening.

As reported by The Telegraph, it has now been suggested that the German international could miss the start of the new campaign, although it has to be said that it’s for a sensible touted reason.

It’s claimed that having undergone such serious knee surgery to heal the issue, neither Rudiger nor Chelsea want to rush him back and risk seeing him suffer a setback.

In turn, they will give him as much time as needed to make a full recovery, and if that means missing the start of the new season then so be it.

Nevertheless, it’s suggested that he will sit out the opening weekend clash with Man Utd and the UEFA Super Cup showdown with Liverpool, and so those are two crucial games to be without him as Chelsea look to set the tone for the year ahead in two huge encounters.

Time will tell if Rudiger accelerates those plans as there is still some way to go before a decision needs to be made, but as the report rightly points out, it’s going to be a struggle initially for Maurizio Sarri’s successor with the injury blows in mind as Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi will both also be recovering from serious setbacks.

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