Medical expert: 18 Chelsea stars ‘at risk’ amid ‘absolute nightmare’ claim
Up to 18 Chelsea stars are at increased risk of injury in 2022-23 as international duty means they will return late to pre-season.
That is the view of injury expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in medicine and data analysis.
Chelsea return to training next Saturday (2 July) and fly out to their pre-season tour of the United States a week later.
But, as relayed by football.london last Friday (17 June), they will be without the 18 players who are returning from international duty for the first week of their preparations ahead of 2022-23.
The upcoming campaign is set to be draining, with the majority of Chelsea’s squad headed to the World Cup in Qatar in mid-winter.
And Dinnery claims that returning late to pre-season is far from ideal preparation ahead of an “absolute nightmare” of a season.
“If you take part in more sessions in pre-season, that is linked to lower injury risk,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“That is backed up by a 15-year study. We always talk about how important that programme is. Ultimately, when players are joining late, they are always playing catch-up.
“The disparity between those who are involved and those who are returning late maybe isn’t as big as it has been in the past, however.
“This is a job that goes on 12 months of the year. Other than a seven or 10-day period where players will let their hair down, they are focus will shift to getting ready for pre-season.
“But there is a risk there. The season has moved forward by a week and we have the World Cup to consider. Also, in that period of time, there are another four rounds of games to shoehorn in before the start of the World Cup.
“On top of that, there is also a change to the Champions League. Clubs will be required to play on a weekly basis to make sure all those fixtures have been met.
“That will put a lot of demands on these players and what they are able to do in pre-season. It’s going to be an absolute nightmare.
“Tuchel will make an informed decision in line with his sports science department to try and protect those players as best as possible.”
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