Chelsea striker Christopher Nkunku has offered an encouraging update to fans as he steps up his injury rehabilitation.
The French international posted a video to his Instagram Stories on Monday in which he can be seen looking in excellent shape as he engages in plenty of strength and conditioning work in the gym.
As well as lifting weights and completing several other exercises, most promising of all is that Nkunku can also be seen kicking a ball in the video, albeit just doing keepy-ups and other quick tricks in an indoor setting.
While his return to first-team action is still likely not expected to come until the New Year, it seems that the 25-year-old is working extremely hard on his recovery.
Nkunku was one of the headline arrivals of Chelsea’s latest summer spending spree, moving to Stamford Bridge from RB Leipzig on a six-year contract in June for a fee of around £52million.
While technically the first signing of the Mauricio Pochettino era in west London, the deal had actually been agreed months earlier during the reign of predecessor Graham Potter.
Plenty of excitement greeted the arrival of Nkunku, who scored 70 goals and laid on 56 assists in 172 total appearances for Leipzig, winning the Bundesliga Player of the Year award in 2021/22 and then finishing alongside Niclas Fullkrug as the German top-flight’s joint-top scorer in his final season.
He had begun to make a quick impact at Chelsea during pre-season before suffering a serious knee injury in the final friendly clash with Borussia Dortmund in Chicago and undergoing surgery.
Pochettino’s side had been badly struggling for goals in his absence, though have now finally begun to turn a corner with three straight victories across all competitions - scoring seven times in that span, including four in a come-from-behind victory at newly-promoted Burnley on Saturday - and return to action after the international break with a huge home London derby against joint-Premier League leaders Arsenal on October 21.
Axel Disasi is now a doubt for that game after pulling out of the France squad with a thigh tear, while Chelsea remain without the likes of Wesley Fofana, Ben Chilwell, Romeo Lavia and Marcus Bettinelli.
However, Reece James, Trevoh Chalobah and Benoit Badiashile are all expected back from injury very soon, while Malo Gusto has also now served a three-match suspension following his dismissal in the home defeat by Aston Villa.
