Journo ‘confident’ 26-year-old star will make Chelsea starting XI immediately after injury return

Journalist Jonathan Johnson insists Christopher Nkunku will be directly thrown into starting XI after his return

Reporter Jonathan Johnson is convinced that Christopher Nkunku will start for Chelsea once he returns from a knee injury.

Nkunku Chelsea’s debut was delayed after the former RB Leipzig forward picked up a knee injury during the pre-season game in the USA against Borussia Dortmund.

The forward is now nearing a return from his long-term injury and is likely to make his Chelsea debut after the November international break. However, it’s not fully confirmed, and Chelsea doesn’t want to rush the forward.

His addition will be a big boost for the Mauricio Pochettino side, as he will add much-needed experience to a squad that contains the majority of young players.

Nkunku will also provide the finishing touch in front of the goal that Chelsea has been lacking; once he returns, he will straightaway go to the starting XI, as per Jonathan Johnson, who was speaking exclusively to CaughtOffside for his Daily Briefing column:

“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.”

Since Mauricio Pochettino views him as one of our most important players, it goes without saying that he will start. Nevertheless, we should remember that he may return from a long-term injury, so we shouldn’t rush him into matches. To increase his fitness, we will need to play for a short while. Once he is ready to participate for the whole ninety minutes, we can watch him start every match.

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Hopefully, we won’t put too much pressure on him because he won’t exactly start off strong when he returns. After all, he will be playing in a different league, and a player of his quality might not need more than a few games to start thriving.