Christian Pulisic will have to wait until the new English Premier League season to be back on the field for Chelsea.
After being ruled out of UEFA Champions League contention, Pulisic will miss six weeks due to a hamstring injury suffered in the FA Cup Final. Chelsea boss Frank Lampard confirmed the news Friday ahead of the club’s UCL tie at Bayern Munich on Saturday.
Kante and Loftus-Cheek are fit to start.
Pulisic is out for six weeks.
Azpilicueta is out for three weeks.
And Pedro has a six week injury. #CFC #UCL
— Nizaar Kinsella (@NizaarKinsella) August 7, 2020
“With Pulisic, it’s touch and go for the start of the season,” Lampard said. “We have to treat it right. He has been fantastic although had a couple of these injuries this season.”
“In the big scheme when Pulisic reflects on the first season, I think his improvement levels coming here, when you think of his goals and assists being the best of his career in the first year in the Premier League, from where he was at the start and how he was playing in restart he should be very happy because that is down to his work.
“We will get him fit and ready. If he misses the first part of the season, the first one or two games, then we will have a firing Christian hungry for restart.”
The U.S. Men’s National Team star became the first American men’s player to score in the historic club final, but left the 2-1 defeat after pulling up with the injury early in the second-half.
Pulisic was Chelsea’s best performer this summer, scoring five goals and registering two assists in all competitions. The 21-year-old finished the season with 11 goals and 10 assists in 33 combined appearances for Frank Lampard’s side.
After a strong first-half of the season for Chelsea, Pulisic had to wait five months to return to the pitch for the Blues. An adductor injury suffered on New Years Day forced Pulisic to the sidelines before the COVID-19 pandemic halted the league season for three months.
Pulisic returned to the squad fit and healthy and became a key figure in the Blues push for an eventual top-four finish in England. Not only was Pulisic scoring and setting up his teammates, but his confidence with the ball in dangerous situations also grew.
Chelsea will begin preseason camp likely in late August with the new Premier League season scheduled to begin on the weekend of Sept. 12th.
Hamstrings are one of the injuries that you don’t want to rush back from. If you’re not fully healed it’s easy to re-injure. I think Weah’s initial injury was a hammy…and in his 1st game back he re-injured it and was sidelined for the rest of the season.
Just saying, he needs to take the time to heal completely in order to avoid being sidelined for an even longer period.
I haven’t seen the fixture schedule for next season, but Chelsea have enough depth to afford Pulisic to heal completely without losing too much in the rankings. Ease him back into the line-up….a couple sub appearances…before putting him back into the starting XI.
We all saw how how much influence he had on games down the stretch…and while we all want to see more of that type of play its important to get his return right so he’s available for the long term.
I totally agree….I will say this though, If Ziyech and Havertz(yet to be signed but only a matter of time)begin the season on fire while Pulisic is rehabbing, it may be hard for CP to get on the field immediately because at that level it’s what have you done for me lately. Granted what CP did the previous season would garner the benefit of the doubt, managers aren’t too quick to mess with the continuity a team that’s playing well.
Too bad he will miss preseason, though I’m sure he is still at the forefront of Chelsea’s plans. Very interested to see what Chelsea does from here in the market. They are overloaded on attacking mids and very weak in defense. Kepa appears to be out as well. In any event, Pulisic will have a lot of new teammates in the starting mix next year.
Well, at least it’s not a repeat of his abductor injury nor is it a knee injury. Hamstrings can take quite a while, but usually aren’t something that will change a career like a knee injury. Looking for positives here. A remarkable first EPL season for a young American.
I’m hopeful for no Michael Owen like hamstring issues cause that could really hamstring his career.
~
I’ll see myself out …