Chelsea Without Nkunku for Months. Who at Chelsea Can Fill That Void?

Just when things are looking up at Chelsea Football Club, the Blues suffered a massive blow in which one of the club’s marquee signings, Christopher Nkunku, will be sidelined for up to four months as he recovers from knee surgery.

The Frenchman picked up a knee injury last Wednesday when he was fouled hard in the club’s last pre-season friendly against Borussia Dortmund and now the question remains… what can Chelsea do?

For starters, losing Nkunku for any amount of time is a devastating blow. He showed at both RB Leipzig and for Chelsea this pre-season that he is an excellent attacker, capable of playing across the front-three but thriving in the #10 role behind the striker. His linkup with Nicolas Jackson during pre-season was superb and it was a breath of fresh air after watching the Chelsea attack over the past few seasons. Now, the manager, Mauricio Pochettino, will have to dig deep or dip back into the transfer market again.

Conor Gallagher

Despite the fact that new signings always bring excitement, the club has two players that I think can fill the void left by Nkunku.

During pre-season given Chelsea’s lack of depth in the midfield, Gallagher stepped up to play in the pivot, a role that sees him much deeper than his ideal position. Nonetheless, he did a solid job but his ideal role is similar to the one he had when he was on loan at Crystal Palace as he featured as an attacking midfielder. In this role, he was able to crash the box and out of possession, he was excellent in the press. Palace manager, Patrick Vieira, turned him into a goal-scoring machine overseeing his breakout season. That being said, I don’t think Gallagher is great in possession & build-up play.

Conor Gallagher was a goalscoring machine at Crystal Palace

I think Vieira deploying him in the #10 role was partly because he saw his potential as a goal threat, but also because he knew he was shaky in build-up play. Building play from deep and contributing to attacking sequences across all phases of play is not his strong suit and there’s nothing wrong with that. Chelsea now boasts players that are excellent in this regard with young talents like Carney Chukwuemeka and Enzo Fernández.

With Nkunku sidelined for months, Gallagher slotting into the #10 role in a 4-2-3-1 would soften the blow of Nkunku’s absence but also alter how Chelsea play. Chelsea would be without Nkunku’s ability to turn his opponent and Gallagher cannot play across the front three like the Frenchman can. Plus, Nkunku is definitely a better passer than Gallagher.

That being said, Poch can take advantage of Gallagher’s goal threat and play to his strong suits such as having him make late runs into the box and having Chelsea’s wide players play balls into the box. Plus, Chelsea’s new signing at centre-forward, Nicolas Jackson, has shown that he is excellent in hold-up play at both Villareal and for Chelsea during pre-season. Therefore, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Jackson and Gallagher create chances out of nothing with Jackson knocking the ball down to Gallagher and Conor having a quick chance to put a shot on target.

Lastly, Poch is known for his high-pressing football, so why not have Gallagher towards the tip of the spear, where he can disrupt opposing teams deep lying playmakers?

Gallagher is a solid option to fill the void left by Nkunku although the way that Chelsea will play will be altered. Nonetheless, it would be nice to see Gallagher higher up the pitch where he excels and have him far away from a deep-lying playmaking role where he is a liability.

Carney Chukwuemeka

Despite the massive amount of signings this summer at Chelsea Football Club, there is no player I am more excited to watch than Carney Chukwuemeka.

Carney Chukwuemeka is poised for a breakthrough season at Chelsea

The young English midfielder was brought in last summer but struggled for game time through no fault of his own as a handful of managers refused to give him game time despite those playing more than him struggling and in some instances, seemingly not putting in maximum effort.

Thankfully, the door has shut on that era of Chelsea. Poch has given Carney a lot of opportunities this pre-season and the 19-year-old has shined. As devastating as Nkunku being out is for Chelsea, it’s an excellent opportunity for Carney.

If Gallagher were to step into the void left by Nkunku, Poch would have to alter his approach if Carney was to do the same. Albeit, in a different way.

I don’t see Carney excelling in a #10 role behind the striker. During pre-season, we saw him impact play in all phases when Chelsea were in possession. I truly believe he’s best a #8/box-to-box midfielder. Today, attacking midfielders are morphing into box-to-box demons and Carney seems to be one that is making the switch (or perhaps I initially misprofiled him).

Carney on the right-hand side of a three-man midfield consisting of two #8s and a #6/holding midfielder would be incredibly efficient in a 4-1-2-3 (esque) formation. This way, Carns could drop deep to facilitate build-up but also have the defensive cover in midfield to push up and join the attack in other phases of play.

A midfield partnership of Enzo and Carney has enormous potential and that is something I’d absolutely love to see.

Defensive Midfield Cover

It’s nice knowing that Chelsea have cover with Nkunku sidelined. That being said, it matters little that Carney and Gallagher can fill in, if Chelsea go into the season with no defensive midfield cover.

The club parted ways with Jorginho, N’golo Kanté, and Ethan Ampadu leaving a massive void at DM (although you could easily argue that neither Jorginho or Kanté were true defensive midfielders). With negotiations with Brighton for Moises Caicedo now spanning months, an alternative, that won’t immediately be loaned out, must be found and soon.

Andrey Santos, having shined in pre-season is rumored to stay at Chelsea for the season (although I think this is out of necessity) and the club has also been linked heavily with Leeds defensive midfielder, Tyler Adams.

Does Andrey Santos have what it takes to succeed at Chelsea this season?

Other names that the club could consider include, Amadou Onana, Cheick Doucouré, Roméo Lavia, Khéphren Thuram, Manu Koné, & Lucas Gourna-Douath. Each player is their own distinct profile of defensive midfielder but each one would add defensive security to Chelsea’s midfield, something that is desperately needed.

Last Option

Reece and Chalobah both have what it takes to play DM at Chelsea.

This option may seem a bit out there but I think it’s worth exploring. Poch has the option to play either Trevor Chalobah or Reece James at DM given there is sufficient depth at both right-back with the addition of Malo Gusto from Lyon and at center-back with Axel Disasi joining from Monaco and Levi Colwill recently signing a long-term contract.

Say Reece or Chalobah feature at DM, this would allow Enzo and Carney to push higher up the pitch. And if Gallagher was featuring, Enzo could feature in the pivot with either Reece or Chalobah allowing for Gallagher to occupy the space behind Chelsea’s striker.

Given Chelsea’s first premier league fixture is this Sunday, this could be a real possibility although I am skeptical if Poch will actually roll something like this out. The handful of managers before him, were awful in adapting to their personnel as they vied for their own systems and formations often having the personnel at their disposal fit into their vision rather than creating a system fit for the personnel.

That’s It

The injury to Nkunku and the lack of defensive midfield cover have Poch and the Chelsea sporting directors in a tough spot. Will they use Carney & Gallagher to help fill the void? Will they sign the defensive midfield cover the side desperately need? Will Reece or Chalobah be utilized at DM to balance the midfield? Only time will tell.

I trust Poch but I don’t want to see Gallagher in a deep midfield role against a high-pressing team such as Liverpool. There’s no doubt that Nkunku’s injury is a massive blow to Chelsea, but all is not lost as the personnel at disposal boast exceptional skillsets that can help bridge the gap of losing the club’s most dynamic attacker.