Medical insider: Mateo Kovacic return not in sight as ‘critical’ new Chelsea footage emerges
It is impossible to say when exactly Mateo Kovacic might return to action for Chelsea.
That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in injury and data analysis.
Kovacic, 28, has recently struggled with a knee injury and is yet to feature in 2022-23.
But Chelsea’s media team posted a video interview with the Croatian midfielder ahead of his involvement in an open training session on Wednesday (24 August).
Thomas Tuchel had previously explained that the medical staff delayed his return to training because of a reaction at the injury site.
And Dinnery insists that Chelsea will have to assess how Kovacic reacts to his increased workload before they are able to put a timeline on when he might play again.
“This isn’t a knee injury that came about with a specific incident,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“It was managed in pre-season and he worked individually away from the main squad on the club’s tour of America. He was used very sparingly through those pre-season games.
“This was all on the understanding that he was managing this knee problem conservatively. The idea is to maintain your load and ensure that you don’t have any kind of reaction.
“Effectively, they didn’t see the response they were hoping for. Therefore, Kovacic had to withdraw even further and was taken out of day-to-day training routines.
“So, this was something he was working on individually. He will be assessed on a daily basis. There will be set goals and activities he must tick off before he can be introduced into more dynamic training.
“So, although that return to training is critical, there is no definitive timeline. It’s just one they need to be aware of and monitor closely.”
In other news, pundit tells Chelsea to sign Ivan Toney in double striker deal after latest.