Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino has shared an update on Christopher Nkunku ahead of this weekend’s match away at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The Blues make the trip to Wolves on Christmas Eve to face them in a Premier League fixture.
We’re sure that the travelling Chelsea support will be desperate to see some more of Christopher Nkunku, who made his club debut during the midweek win over Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup.
The 26-year-old attacker returned from an injury that kept him out of the first half of the season, playing the final 20 minutes as a substitute versus Newcastle.
It’s now been confirmed by Chelsea’s manager that the French forward will only be on the bench again at Wolves.
Mauricio Pochettino update
Mauricio Pochettino has shared in his pre-match press conference that Nkunku still needs time as he gets up to full speed after a lengthy spell out of action.
He’s admitted that the £52million star (Sky Sports) won’t be in his starting XI quite yet.
When asked about Nkunku, Pochettino said via Chelsea’s official YouTube account: “We need to patient, we need to give time. We need to provide him the capacity for him to find his best form…
“To play from the beginning, I don’t know, I think it’s too early to see him start the game. Next few weeks, game we’ll consider him in the starting XI, but not at the moment.”
Christoper Nkunku not starting against Wolves
Speaking via Sky Sports this week, Jamie Redknapp admitted he didn’t see too much from Nkunku during his brief runout against Newcastle.
We suspect it’s going to take the former RB Leipzig man a bit of time to get fully fit and adapt to football in a new country.
In fairness, Nkunku was brave enough to step up and score his spot-kick during Chelsea’s penalty shootout win over Newcastle.
While Nkunku get up to full speed with cameo performances, his sheer presence should be enough to ramp up the competition within the squad. There may suddenly be some tougher decisions for Pochettino when building his preferred forward line.