Another international injury – Chelsea one absence away from a tricky squad situation | OneFootball

Chelsea started this season with a really strong squad. Every time they were close to signing a player, there would be people questioning if it was really necessary, or if the Blues were just stockpiling talent.

Chelsea already hit by increasing injury as season gets underway

Dario Essugo in action for Chelsea against Bayer Leverkusen. (Photo by Eddie Keogh/Getty Images)

Well it’s easy to forget how quickly players can be ruled out. The season has begun and they’re dropping like flies.

Benoit Badiashile and Romeo Lavia have yet to play a minute. Liam Delap has been lost to a nasty looking hamstring injury. Cole Palmer has hurt his groin. For now we’ve got depth throughout the team to cover, but as we saw with the last minute scramble involving Nicolas Jackson, you’re only ever one injury away from a bad situation.

Essugo the latest Blue to go down hurt

Now we can add a new name to the list – Dario Essugo. He’s been troubled with minor issues ever since arriving at the club in the summer, and it appears he has a new one, picked up on international duty with the Portugal Under-21s.

A report from the Portuguese Football Federation said the following:

“The Chelsea midfielder was excused from training due to a muscle problem in his right thigh, which he suffered after training on Monday. The athlete was evaluated by the Portuguese Football Federation’s Health and Performance Department on Tuesday morning and was declared unavailable.”

It’s not a disaster – we finally have the depth to cope with a couple of midfield injuries. But with Essugo and Lavia out, if we lose either Andrey Santos or Moises Caicedo during this international break we’re in trouble.

It’s amazing how quickly you can go from well stocked to bare cupboard, isn’t it…