Chelsea suffer fresh injury blow as Malo Gusto withdraws from France U21 squad | OneFootball

Malo Gusto has withdrawn from the France Under-21 squad in a fresh injury blow to Chelsea.

The right-back featured off the bench in Sunday's 4-4 draw with Manchester City while acting as understudy to Reece James, whose return from a hamstring issue has seen his playing time carefully managed by Mauricio Pochettino.

Despite Gusto finishing the match seemingly without any injury complaints, he will not feature for France U21s in this month's international period.

On Monday, L'Equipe reported on the 20-year-old withdrawing from the squad due to a minor knee ligament problem.

Nantes full-back Quentin Merlin has also pulled out with Bradley Locko of Stade Brestois called up by coach Thierry Henry as the lone replacement for games against Austria and South Korea.

Chelsea, who had already pulled James out of England duty to ensure his full return to fitness, face Newcastle on November 25 in the resumption of Premier League action.

Christopher Nkunku, Romeo Lavia and Levi Colwill are all hoping to be free from injury for the trip to Tyneside whereas Ben Chilwell and Carney Chukwuemeka will join those missing out.