Graham Potter confirms five Chelsea players are out injured
Chelsea manager Graham Potter has confirmed the unavailability of five players ahead of the Blues' upcoming Premier League clash against Bournemouth. Armando Broja, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, N'Golo Kante, Wesley Fofana, and Ben Chilwell are set to miss the match on December 27 against the Cherries.
Graham Potter on injuries:
"Armando is a big loss. Reece is back in, training, completed 65 minutes in the week. Still without Ruben, Ben Chilwell, Kante, Mendy has had a couple days training. Kante is a while, end of February start of March."
Potter also confirmed the long-term unavailability of midfielder Kante. The Frenchman is expected to make a return in late February or early March, following a surgical procedure he underwent on his hamstring in August.
Potter also said that Chelsea have got goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and full-back, Reece James, back in training.
Broja, who has played valuable minutes for the squad this season, suffered an ACL injury in the first half of their practice game against Aston Villa. The striker suffered a rupture of the ligament and will undergo surgery that will cause him to miss the rest of the 2022-23 season.
Fofana, who suffered a knee injury in October, but suffered a setback and is expected to miss a couple of further weeks, according to Potter. He picked up the injury during their recent friendly game against Brentford.
Loftus-Cheek was substituted from Chelsea's last competitive game against Newcastle United just five minutes into the affair. He continues to recover from a calf problem at their training ground Cobham.
Chilwell, meanwhile, has had horrendous injury luck this season. He was deemed to have a long-term issue in November that could force the left-back to miss three months of action.
He missed England's FIFA World Cup squad along with James and traveled to Dubai for Chelsea's mid-season camp.
Chelsea have discussed a potential move for Neymar, according to sources
Chelsea are said to have met Brazilian superstar Neymar Jr.'s entourage in Qatar and discussed a potential transfer, according to reports. Owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali met with several agents and representatives in Qatar as the January transfer window approaches.
Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali have been meeting agents and reps in Qatar. A source even tells me ‘Chelsea approached Neymar’s camp in Qatar’.
- @siphillipssport
open.substack.com/pub/siphillips…
The approach for Neymar is an interesting one as it exhibits Boehly's interest in having a marketable superstar at Stamford Bridge. This comes after the American tried to sign Cristiano Ronaldo but was deemed unwanted by former manager Thomas Tuchel.
It was reported that Paris Saint-Germain were open to selling the winger in the summer if an appropriate bid was launched.
That never came to fruition and Neymar has put it past him with a brilliant run of form. He has scored 15 goals and set up 12 more in just 20 appearances for the Ligue 1 giants this season.