Graham Potter has said that Denis Zakaria's Chelsea opportunity could be soon but there is no shortage of competition in his area of the pitch. The Blues boss has been impressed with the loanee's attitude on the training pitch and understands his frustrations.
The Swiss international is yet to play a minute for the Blues having appeared twice for Juventus before his deadline day loan. The Chelsea boss said in his press conference on Tuesday ahead of the Blues' clash against Brentford that there had been no decision made on Zakaria's future and whether he would head back to Turin in January.
Potter has spoken to Zakaria about the situation but for the moment it appears the likes of Mason Mount, Conor Gallagher, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Jorginho are cemented ahead of him in the pecking order. With eight matches in the next 25 days, that won't necessarily stop him from playing however.
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The 47-year-old said: "Yes and you can imagine every player wants to play and when they don’t they’re disappointed and they’re frustrated and it’s normal and you wouldn’t expect anything else but I have to say he has conducted himself fantastically well in terms of with the group, supports his teammates really well, is always there but you can tell he wants to play so, yeah, have to understand that situation but he is fighting for the team, being really professional in training waiting for his opportunity and I’m sure it will come around soon.
"Well, we just spoke about Mason Mount, and there’s Conor Gallagher and Ruben and Jorgi in that area of the pitch. There’s quite a lot of competition so it’s not like he is doing anything bad. It’s just I’ve got to start somewhere in terms of selection and then the other guys have got to be patient and try hard off the side and be ready when the team needs them and that’s exactly what he is doing."
Zakaria is not the only player who may have hoped to earn more minutes this season, particularly with next month's World Cup coming into view. Christian Pulisic has made just one start under Potter, and two overall this season.
The American is pushing for a place in the starting XI according to Potter, and the former Brighton boss has been pleased with what Pulisic has offered at Cobham.
“You can imagine my focus is on Chelsea. I understand that all the players have ambition and want to play for different reasons; for their families, careers or World Cups financially. That’s all fine but it’s my job to select the right team for whatever game. Not saying I am right all the time, I am not but somebody has got to make the call. With Christian I would say he has been fantastic around the place, been really good with team-mates, contributed against Wolves. He is pushing for a place, pushing for a start. Things change quickly in football and he needs to be ready.”
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