Journalist Jonathan Johnson has now claimed that Christopher Nkunku is about to walk in to a starting role at Chelsea.
He told CaughtOffside that the Frenchman remains a key part of Mauricio Pochettino’s project despite not yet playing for the club.
A few weeks ago, the manager was blaming his side’s downturn in form on not having Nkunku available for selection.
However, since then they have scored eight goals and got four points from games against Tottenham and Manchester City.
Nicolas Jackson has helped himself to four of those goals, beginning to silence a number of his critics.
Now though, Johnson has claimed that Nkunku will still walk into the side when he is back to full fitness.
He said: “Regardless of Chelsea’s upturn in form lately, Nkunku will be a starter for Mauricio Pochettino once he is fully fit. It might take some time for the France international to get back to his best, but he will be keen to make up for lost time and has his spot with Les Bleus to fight for as well.
“I suspect that he will have a fairly immediate impact in front of goal as Chelsea seek to make a push for a European qualification spot over the second half the season. The Blues need to be wary of recurring injury issues with their summer signing, but he undoubtedly has the quality to improve this team once he finally returns to action.
“Of course, we’ve seen real improvement from Nicolas Jackson of late, so that might have led some to question if Nkunku would get straight back into the team, but it’s important to remember how eager Chelsea were to get this deal done, and wrapped up early last year, so I’m confident he remains a key part of Pochettino’s project.”
Pochettino has hinted that the 26-year-old is now not far away from returning after his pre-season injury.
Chelsea supporters will already be really keen to see how he links up with the in-form Cole Palmer.
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