Latest Maresca comments make it likely 17 goal attacker won’t play for Chelsea again | OneFootball

Asked for an injury update on his Chelsea squad in his press conference today, Enzo Maresca said Christopher Nkunku was “still out.”

This continues the Frenchman’s run out of the squad, since he was dropped for what Maresca called a “technical reason” back at the end of April when we faced Fulham. When Nkunku didn’t appear for the subsequent games, we speculated that we may never see him in a Chelsea shirt again, and so far that’s played out just as we thought.

Nkunku chooses a bad time to be exiled

Christopher Nkunku chases a ball against Brentford. (Photo by Eddie Keogh/Getty Images)

Whether it’s Nkunku telling Chelsea he can’t play, or Chelsea having told him they won’t use him isn’t clear. But we’re not buying this injury stuff.

Still, for as poor as he was when he was on the pitch this year, this is certainly bad timing. Nicolas Jackson’s red ruled him out for the rest of the season, Marc Guiu is injured, and Jadon Sancho can’t play against his parent club tomorrow night. Adding Nkunku that leaves the Blues a few of attackers down.

“We are working on [a replacement for Jackson]. Unfortunately we don’t have many options. Marc Guiu is still injured,” Maresca explained.

Maresca will be forced into back 5 solution he doesn’t love

The most likely option appears to be Pedro Neto or Tyrique George playing up front as a “false 9” as we saw them do in the Spring when Jackson was injured. Maresca said he would prefer to use a “real 9” against the sort of low block Man U will produce, but he really doesn’t have any options right now.

“It depends on the game plan. Against a line of five, I prefer a real No.9 because we want to attack in behind,” Maresca said.

“I like a false nine against four because we can link a bit more. We need to find a different solution.”