Cole Palmer will be sidelined until November due to an ongoing groin injury that has disrupted the Chelsea star’s season.
Palmer, 23, has started just two Premier League matches this season, on the opening day of the new campaign against Crystal Palace and at Manchester United last month.
His appearance at Old Trafford was cut short after just 20 minutes, forced off with the same groin problem.
Chelsea have been carefully managing Palmer’s injury, deciding to pull him out of the squad following that setback at United and missing games against Lincoln City, Brighton, Benfica and Liverpool heading into the October international break.
It had been hoped he would be available again for the game against Nottingham Forest on Saturday 18 October. But following meetings between Enzo Maresca and Chelsea’s medical staff, that return date has now been pushed back.
Get personalised updates on Chelsea every day
Wake up to find news on your club in your inbox every morning with Metro’s Football Newsletter.
Sign up to our newsletter and then select your team in the link we’ll send you so we can get football news tailored to you.
The Athletic report Palmer will miss the Forest game along with the Champions League clash with Ajax. He will also sit out of the visit of Sunderland in the Premier League and the Carabao Cup fourth round clash with Wolves.
That timeline however could see him return in time for the clash with Tottenham on 1 November.
Palmer has been limited to just four appearances this season, scoring two goals. He was on the score sheet after coming off the bench against Brentford in mid-September, starting and scoring against Bayern Munich four days later.
That groin issue has also ensured Palmer has not been part of the England squad having featured just once under Thomas Tuchel.
Are Chelsea making the right decision with Cole Palmer?
They will certainly be looking at different options. One will be if they decide to try and keep managing this proactively the way they have been and to keep pushing from a rehabilitation perspective to get him back out there as quickly as possible. Or do they take a little more time, take him out of the side for a number of weeks, two, three, even four weeks to give him some time to rest and in that really decent recovery and rehabilitation time under his belt to create some real strength and resistance where the injury is.
‘Orr, should they cut their losses and do something a little more drastic but with the potential to have a higher probability of solving the problem once and for all. All of three of those options will be in the conversations going on at Chelsea and I think it will totally depend on his symptoms and how bad they are. He will be wholly involved in that process too. Nobody will be better placed to talk about how he is feeling and what it is like day to day than Cole himself.
These groin injuries can be less acute and are not necessarily something you can rehab easily like with a hamstring injury or a calf injury. They can be much more chronic, causing a lot of inflammation and a lot of pain when athletes are running and things can be slower from a rehabilitation perspective.
I would suggest the surgery route is probably unlikely because at this stage, it would be like going from 0 to 100. If the current approach has not worked, the next step is to take him out of for a couple of games to give him a little bit more time. Swinging the pendulum the other side and going down the surgery route is probably unlikely at this stage.
Stephen Smith, CEO and founder of Kitman Labs which specialises in injury welfare and performance analytics
With the World Cup next summer already shifting into focus, Tuchel admitted this week the ‘concerning’ groin issue could effect his chances of making the final squad.
‘He was only in the June camp, that’s concerning, of course,’ Tuchel said of Palmer’s fitness problems after confirming that England would also be without their captain, Kane, due to injury.
‘First of all, the most important thing is that he can play without pain because the groin issue is a very dangerous one to become chronic. This is the most important thing.
‘When he’s fit and when he has rhythm and flow, he can decide matches on club level and, for sure, at international level. We know that.
‘There is also with him no problem at all [for me]. We clearly understand and see the potential and the quality, but there is also a reality that he was not available in five of the [last] seven camps, so right now there are two camps left before the World Cup.’