Chelsea lost their main striker until the end of the year
Nkunku had problems in the friendly match against Dortmund 1-1 in the US on August 3 and was diagnosed with a left meniscus injury. Initially, Chelsea hoped the French striker would only be out for a few weeks.
But on August 8, the owner of Stamford Bridge confirmed that Nkunku had surgery for a knee injury and began the rehabilitation process. This striker will be out of action for about 16 weeks, and can only return in early 2024.
Nkunku grew up from the PSG training camp, played for the first team in the period 2015-2019 and then landed at RB Leipzig. In the shirt of the German club, he scored 70 goals in 172 matches, won two German Cups, was the Bundesliga's top scorer last season and won the Bundesliga Player of the Year award 2021-2022. Chelsea had to spend $67 million to activate the release clause, bring in Nkunku and expect him to become the team's new main striker.
According to British newspaper Sunsport, the bad grass at Soldier Field in Chicago - where Chelsea played a friendly against Dortmund - was the cause of Nkunku's serious injury. A few days earlier, Soldier Field held a concert by British singer Ed Sheeran. However, after the game, coach Mauricio Pochettino refused to blame the pitch and considered the injury to be unlucky.
According to EPSN, Chelsea has accelerated the process of recruiting Dusan Vlahovic, because coach Pochettino wants more options after losing Nkunku. "The Blues" and Juventus want to exchange Romelu Lukaku and Vlahovic, but have not yet agreed on a transfer fee. Chelsea wants to receive $50 million for Lukaku, while Juventus value Vlahovic at $87 million.
On August 8, Chelsea also announced the shirt number for the 2023-2024 season. This list does not include Lukaku, while Nkunku chose number 18. Other rookies such as striker Nicolas Jackson wore the number 15 shirt, defender Axel Disasi wore the number 2 shirt, midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu wore the number 20 shirt, and goalkeeper Robert Sanchez chose the number 20 shirt. choose number 11.
Mykhailo Mudryk - the winger bought for $ 119 million from Shakhtar Donetsk - takes over the number 10 shirt of Christian Pulisic, who has moved to AC Milan. Raheem Sterling wears the number 7, Enzo Fernandez wears the number 8, and Levi Colwill - a product of the Chelsea academy - wears the number 26 shirt of the legendary John Terry.
On August 13, Chelsea will play the opening match of the Premier League season 2023-2024 against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge.
