Soccer Football - Carabao Cup - Quarter Final - Chelsea v Newcastle United - Stamford Bridge, London, Britain - December 19, 2023 Chelsea's Christopher Nkunku celebrates after winning the penalty shootout Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra/File Photo
(Reuters) - Chelsea must wait a while longer before Christopher Nkunku is ready to start, manager Mauricio Pochettino said on Friday after the versatile forward returned from a knee injury and made his debut for the club this week.
The France international played in Tuesday's League Cup win over Newcastle United after four months out a with knee injury.
But Pochettino told reporters the 26-year-old, who cost Chelsea 52 million pounds in the close season, needs more time.
"Everyone was excited because we want to see him involved in the game. We know (his) quality and capacity to help the team in a very good way," the manager said.
"We need to be patient and give time to give him the capacity to find his best form. It is too early to see him start the game, but maybe in the next few games we are going to consider him to start."
Pochettino advocated a similar approach for the recovery of defender Reece James who recently underwent hamstring surgery.
"We hope it will be several weeks, but we don't know for sure," he said about James' recovery timeline.
"The most important thing is to see him again here with us and assess him day by day."
Romeo Lavia, Noni Madueke and Lesley Ugochukwu have returned to full training as 10th-placed Chelsea seek to end a three-match away game losing streak against 13th-placed Wolves.
The manager also backed Chelsea's statement committing to UEFA competitions following Thursday's European Court of Justice ruling that UEFA and FIFA contravened EU law when they prevented the formation of a Super League.
"It is difficult for me to see how that is going to happen... there are too many question marks." Pochettino said about the ESL.
"I am focused instead on the Premier League."
Chelsea have the opportunity to end December on a high note by beating Wolves, Crystal Palace and Luton Town over the next seven days.
"It is going to be massive for us in terms of the points we can win from these games, but for now I only think about Wolves," Pochettino said.
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
