Preseason at Chelsea is coming to the end of its second week, and there are some exciting decisions to be made.
On Monday, the team depart for the USA. A large chunk of the players currently working with Enzo Maresca will go, but not all of them. Equally, new players will be joining up all the time, as the holidays for those who played at the Euros and the Copa America come to an end.
One player who didn’t feature at either of those tournaments, but will still be late joining the main group is Nicolas Jackson. As a senior player who racked up a crazy number of minutes last season, it’s felt only right that he’s had a nice long rest. But he’s not been left out because he’s tired – he’s got an ankle problem that’s currently preventing him from joining the group.
Kieran Gill of the Daily Mail had an update on Jackson’s progress in a Tweet he put out today:
Full travelling list for Chelsea's tour yet to be confirmed, but told Nicolas Jackson is expecting to join the squad stateside. Not seen in full team training at Cobham as there's a day-to-day evaluation of ankle issue. #CFC season starts in less than a month vs Man City
— Kieran Gill (@kierangill_DM) July 19, 2024
Jackson’s return cutting start to the season fine
Gill writes that Jackson is “expecting to join the squad stateside,” but won’t fly out with them. As the writer notes, this is already cutting it pretty fine for the start of the season. The squad are only just back in training, but the first friendly is on Wednesday night, and the season starts in less than a month, when we start our Premier League campaign with a game against Man City.
There’s no reason to think Jackson won’t be ready – he’s having a “day to day evaluation” on his ankle issue and will soon be back training by the sounds of things. But time is ticking by if he really wants to be at 100% for the big kick off in August, and working with the new coach before then is vital.
