Chelsea midfielder Jorginho has taken a brave stance on his injury woes ahead of this weekend’s clash with Leeds United.
The Italian was left on the sidelines during Wednesday’s 3-3 draw with Zenit St Petersburg as he recovered from a back injury. The Blues of course missed his presence in the centre of the park as they twice relinquished the lead in Russia and were eventually pegged back late on.
Tuchel will be hopeful of Jorginho making a return this weekend as Chelsea aim to get back on track against Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United.
He has already revealed that the former Napoli man could be in line to start but will play on with a problem.
Talking in his pre-match press conference, the German said: “He [Jorginho] did the last two training sessions, and I think he will do what he did the last games, play through pain and do what's needed to be on the pitch.”
Whilst the Italian’s return to the pitch will be a short-term boost to Chelsea’s hopes of claiming victory at Stamford Bridge, it could well be a mistake for the rest of the season.
Former Chelsea boss Frank Lampard took a similar stance to the fitness of N’Golo Kante during his stint in charge.
Ahead of the ex-midfielder’s arrival at Stamford Bridge prior to the 2019/20 season, Kante had only missed five Premier League games through injury in total - those coming under the stints of Antonio Conte and Maurizio Sarri.
Meanwhile, the Frenchman missed a total of 16 league games through injury during Lampard’s first season in charge, whilst that theme has continued in the current regime with Kante being in and out of the side.
Each time the Frenchman would return from injury, he would play 90 minutes and was very often injured shortly after. It could well be suggested then that the World Cup winner was simply never been given enough time to fully recover by Lampard.
That could be a mistake that would be repeated with Jorginho, with the Italian now staging a running battle with injury problems.
Whilst his and Tuchel’s stance is admirable and understandable, it could well end up doing Chelsea more damage than good in the long term.
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