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‘Could be involved’… Mauricio Pochettino says 25-year-old could now play his first game for Chelsea in 2024

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Mauricio Pochettino has now hinted that one Chelsea player could be about to play his first game for the club this year.

He said in his pre-match press conference that defender Marc Cucurella is in contention to be involved as he completes his return from injury.

Cucurella has not been seen since December where he limped off the pitch against Everton during a 2-0 defeat.

Everton FC v Chelsea FC - Premier League
Photo by Dave Howarth – CameraSport via Getty Images

With what looked a fairly inocious injury at the time, we now enter the month of March without a return to the squad as of yet for the Spain international.

His absence has been felt hard when taking into account the options that it has left fit at the club.

Only Ben Chilwell has been available as a natural left-back, and even he has been making his return from his own injury problem and has been managed as carefully as possible.

Cucurella approaching a return

There was good news then that Pochettino confirmed in his pre-match press conference that Cucurella, as well as Thiago Silva, were close to making their returns.

He said: “We need to assess him and Marc Cucurella. Maybe it is possible that they could be involved in the squad. Good news. If they will be possible to be in the squad.”

Silva has also been out for a number of games with his own issue, which saw him unfortunately miss the EFL Cup final last week.

The game was crying out for a player of his experience as far as Chelsea were concerned, as they struggled with the magnitude of the situation.