25-year-old Chelsea star ruled out for months ahead of Liverpool tie

Christopher Nkunku to miss football for at least 16 weeks for Chelsea just before the season-opener against Liverpool

According to Simon Johnson for The Athletic (subscription required), Chelsea forward Christopher Nkunku is set to miss up to 16 weeks of football (or four months) starting from the season-opening encounter against Liverpool.

The French international did his knee while playing on a dodgy pitch in Chelsea’s final pre-season of the USA tour against Borussia Dortmund in Chicago.

Initially, it was reported that while the 25-year-old would miss the Liverpool game, it would be just a few weeks before he is back in full training.

Chelsea's French forward Christopher Nkunku is set to miss four months of football starting from the game against Liverpool. — Chelsea’s French forward Christopher Nkunku is set to miss four months of football starting from the game against Liverpool. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)

But, the latest on that is he has had to undergo surgery to deal with that injury and now won’t be back into contention for making his proper Chelsea debut until December.

If fit, Nkunku should have played the Liverpool game as a number 10 behind the striker Nicolas Jackson. That is where he was playing in the pre-season, especially in those Premier League summer series games, before picking up the injury.

Although we do not want football players to get injured, even if they are from rival teams, this is good news for the Reds ahead of a tough first game away to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp wouldn't be too sad about not having to face Nkunku in the opening game of the season. — Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp wouldn’t be too sad about not having to face Nkunku in the opening game of the season. (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)

We know how concerning Liverpool’s defending has been for some time now. It didn’t look that solid in the pre-season games as well. Jurgen Klopp still does not have a proper number six in the squad. Alexis Mac Allister was tried there against Darmstadt and he looked decent. Curtis Jones looked out of place there against Bayern Munich.

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After the Darmstadt game, Klopp admitted that he needs to find a line-up for the Chelsea game and not for the whole season. It probably means that he is expecting signings before the end of this transfer window. Let’s hope that is the case because we are short of quality and numbers at the moment.