Chelsea’s Nkunku not ready to start games, says Pochettino

Chelsea must wait a while longer before Christopher Nkunku is ready to start, manager Mauricio Pochettino said on Friday after the versatile forward returned from a knee injury and made his debut for the club this week.

The France international played in Tuesday’s League Cup win over Newcastle United after four months out a with knee injury.

But Pochettino told reporters the 26-year-old, who cost Chelsea 52 million pounds in the close season, needs more time.

“Everyone was excited because we want to see him involved in the game. We know (his) quality and capacity to help the team in a very good way,” the manager said.

“We need to be patient and give time to give him the capacity to find his best form. It is too early to see him start the game, but maybe in the next few games we are going to consider him to start.”

Pochettino advocated a similar approach for the recovery of defender Reece James who recently underwent hamstring surgery.

“We hope it will be several weeks, but we don’t know for sure,” he said about James’ recovery timeline.

“The most important thing is to see him again here with us and assess him day by day.”

Chelsea have the opportunity to end December on a high note by beating Wolves, Crystal Palace and Luton Town over the next seven days.

“It is going to be massive for us in terms of the points we can win from these games, but for now I only think about Wolves,” Pochettino said.