LONDON – Mykhailo Mudryk is the latest addition to a long list of injuries at Chelsea after the Ukrainian forward sustained an injury in training, manager Mauricio Pochettino said on Thursday.
The Blues have been hit with several injury problems, including captain Reece James, who suffered a hamstring injury on the opening day and Christopher Nkunku, who needed knee surgery. Mudryk, who cost Chelsea an initial €70 million (S$94.7 million) in transfer fees in January, is now the ninth player to be sidelined. The club did not reveal the nature of his injury.
“He won’t be available for tomorrow... It’s not a big issue, we need to wait one week,” Pochettino said before Friday’s home game against Luton Town.
Carney Chukwuemeka went off injured having scored in the 3-1 defeat by West Ham United on Sunday and the 19-year-old underwent knee surgery, but the recovery time should be shorter than first feared.
“It is not an issue for months, maybe weeks. It is a bit unlucky in some issues, like with Carney. That is football. A little bit unlucky with many of the injuries, but I am positive,” the manager said.
The injury list also includes Wesley Fofana, Armando Broja and Benoit Badiashile, and Pochettino put most of them down to “bad luck”.
“Nkunku and Carney or Fofana. How can you control? It’s not about training or methodology. It sometimes happens,” the Argentinian added. “In some others, many factors can influence. It’s tough to talk in general because situations are different. In general, you can talk about bad luck or (a) bad training session. For sure, it is bad luck for Carney, Broja, Fofana and Nkunku.”
With so many injuries, Pochettino spoke about the possibility of new signings. He said: “We need at least one goalkeeper. We have very talented young goalkeepers, but they need time. We were talking about one offensive player. If we can add the right profile, yes, but not to bring players... and stop the evolution of some young guys.”
There was some good news for Chelsea as British record signing Moises Caicedo, who moved from Brighton & Hove Albion for an initial outlay of £100 million (S$171.2 million) plus £15 million in performance-related add-ons, could make his first start for the club, though fellow midfielder Romeo Lavia may need to wait.
“Mo (Caicedo), yes, is ready to start. Lavia no. He needs a few weeks to be ready to be involved with the team,” said the former Tottenham Hotspur manager.
For newly promoted Luton, getting their first point this season at Stamford Bridge may seem a tall order, given their opening day 4-1 defeat by Brighton as well as their limited investment in the squad compared to their hosts.
The Hatters’ club-record signing Ryan Giles for €5.85 million from Wolverhampton Wanderers cost less than half of what Chelsea shelled out to sign Andrey Santos who, at €12.5 million, is the least expensive of the dozens of acquisitions made to build the Blues’ 2023-24 squad.
However, manager Rob Edwards believes this is a good time to face Chelsea given the time they need to gel their team, especially with the spate of injuries they have.
“Pochettino’s a top manager and has been for a long, long time. They’ve brought in a lot of top players, but they’re still a new team and building as well, so they might not be at their best and have the most rhythm right now,” he said. REUTERS
