He has never been the same – Pochettino gives verdict on Nkunku

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Since signing for Chelsea for a fee of £52m from RB Leipzig, it has been one injury or another for Christopher Nkunku.

The £52 million signing has made just nine appearances in his first season at Stamford Bridge, mainly due to a knee injury which he suffered last summer which ruled him out of the first four months of the campaign.

Mauricio Pochettino has now confirmed that Nkunku has suffered another injury setback and could be out for up to a month.

Nkunku came on as a substitute in the second half of Chelsea’s Carabao Cup final against Liverpool on Sunday.

Surprisingly, Pochettino has said they don’t know when Nkunku picked up the injury.

Pochettino however insists it is ‘unfair’ to judge Nkunku given how injuries have disrupted his debut campaign at Chelsea. But the Chelsea manager also admits that Nkunku who performed massively during pre-season, has never been the same since his injury problems.

“It’s difficult for him,” said the Chelsea manager.

“When he arrived in the pre-season, he was flying until he got the knee injury and now it’s nearly eight months and even when he was ‘ready’ to be involved again, he was never the same player as before.

“We have in our head, the potential, best Nkunku that everyone knows from Germany, from the Bundesliga, but it is not the same player when after he needs to be an impact player in the final because of different circumstances.

“Of course, for the team it’s not a good thing for us because we can’t provide to the team a player who can perform and score goals and can be important in this type of game.”

Nkunku was a powerhouse in pre-season, but it’s unfortunate we haven’t seen the best of the Frenchman.