Injury expert: Chelsea star Jorginho not expected to be fully fit until ‘after winter break’
Chelsea superstar Jorginho may not be operating at peak fitness until “after the winter break” amid an ongoing back problem.
That is the view of injury expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in medicine and data analysis.
Jorginho, 30, missed last Sunday’s (19 December) 0-0 draw with Wolves after returning a positive Covid test.
But as quoted by The Sun yesterday (21 December), manager Thomas Tuchel revealed that it had been a “wrong positive”.
The Italian midfielder, who is now back in training, has also admitted he is struggling with a persistent problem in his back.
But he is set to be available for the Blues ahead of tonight’s (22 December) League Cup quarter-final meeting with Brentford.
Dinnery claims that the small period of respite the false positive afforded him will have been a small boost for Jorginho.
“It’s been a long year for Jorghino,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“He won the Euros over the summer and there was very little turnaround time before he was back playing club football.
“Due to the injuries to Kante and Kovacic, Jorginho has been consistently needed.
“By his own admission, he was prepared to put his body on the line and play through the pain.
“Tuchel says he’s spent more time in the treatment room than on the training pitch. So this positive Covid test was maybe a bit of a blessing in disguise.
“Did he want to play? Of course, but sometimes your hand is forced.
“It may be after winter break before he has had the required amount of time to fully recover from that problem.
“Ultimately, there will be a point when you can’t play with this injury because it’ll cause you to break down.”
Chelsea players will get a two-week break between 23 January and 8 February.
They will hope to have closed the six-point gap between themselves and Man City in the league standings by that point.
In other news, Paul Robinson “wowed” by “big” update on Tottenham bid to sign Chelsea star Antonio Rudiger.