Thomas Tuchel’s press conference today was full of injury updates, most of them positive. Plenty of players – like Tammy Abraham and Thiago Silva – are getting closer to a return. But one is now further away, as Tuchel explained:
đź—Ł "Tammy is very very good, Thiago will be out and we have some issues with the calf of Pulisic."
Thomas Tuchel gives an update on Chelsea's injuries & players returning pic.twitter.com/oQj6KLYC4s
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) February 19, 2021
Calf issues, and a minor absence. It doesn’t sound too bad. Until you start to add up all the minor injuries that the US star has had:
🏥 Christian Pulisic has now missed 27 games due to injury/risk management issues since the start of last season.
That’s just under 50% of his total appearance number for Chelsea (55). On form, we know how good he can be – let’s just hope he can maintain his fitness long term. pic.twitter.com/Nsr7LdYPBl
— LDN (@LDNFootbalI) February 19, 2021
According to LDN Football’s Tweet above, Puli has now missed 27 games since the start of last season. That’s pretty much half the games he’s been here for.
It’s starting to look less like a one off battle to get to where he wants, and more like a long term struggle to ever be fully fit. The lack of consistent minutes for the American stops him ever finding a patch of good form, and that is potentially going to seriously affect his future at the club.
We don’t want to be overdramatic, but if he’s rarely fit he rarely plays, and if he rarely plays he rarely plays well. And if he rarely plays well, how long can he last at Chelsea?
