Christian Pulisic has been sidelined since New Year’s Day with an adductor injury that has cost him a month of action, and now it has been revealed that the American star suffered a setback in his attempt to return to action.

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard revealed that Pulisic

“We tried to get him out there last week, step it up a little bit, but we had to pull out of that,’ Lampard said after Chelsea’s recent draw with Leicester City. ‘The break might have come at a good time, it buys us a couple of weeks.”

Chelsea is heading into the English Premier League’s winter break, and doesn’t have another scheduled match until a February 17 home clash with Manchester United. That two-week break will give Pulisic that much more time to recover and return to a Chelsea lineup that has missed the dynamic quality he brings to the attack.

“Of course you miss him,” Lamapard said of Pulisic. “He’s a quality player and he was having a really good patch pre-Christmas. Others have to stand up too, but of course we’ll be happy when he’s back.”

Pulisic had been in outstanding form in the final months of 2019, including a red-hot stretch shortly after the October international fixture period, but his injury has coincided with a Chelsea slide that has seen the London club win just once in its past four matches.

Pulisic will be expected to slot back into the lineup for a Chelsea side that had a surprisingly quiet January transfer window, failing to bring the attacking reinforcements expected to arrive in the winter.

Pulisic’s growing injury layoff could also put into question his availability for the U.S. Men’s National Team friendlies in March. The USMNT faces Netherlands and Wales in seven weeks, plenty of time for Pulisic to recover and play himself into full match fitness.

Pulisic missed the USMNT’s November Nations League wins against Canada and Cuba with a different injury, a hip contusion. Prior to that, Pulisic was pulled out early from the USMNT’s historic Nations League loss to Canada in October,

The USMNT opened 2020 with a 1-0 victory against Costa Rica last Saturday.