Tuchel gives a worrying injury update on Tammy Abraham

Thomas Tuchel has given the latest update on Tammy Abraham, with the striker once again absent from the Blues starting lineup.

It’s been a tough few weeks for Tammy Abraham, who has battled with recurring injury issues.

The first of many for the forward came with an ankle issue he picked up against Burnley on January 31.

Abraham then suffered a recurrence of the same ankle problem in Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Newcastle at Stamford Bridge on February 15.

The 23-year-old suffered a setback on his road to recovery but was back in training for the Blues on Friday. He was expected to make the bench against Sheffield United but was missing from the squad.

Speaking after the game, Tuchel delivered an update Chelsea fans would not want to hear.

It appears Abraham has suffered yet another setback to his ankle issues while in training.

Thomas Tuchel on Tammy Abraham:

"He stopped training yesterday after the warm-up. So there was no chance he could be in the squad. He had a similar injury to exactly where the first injury was. So he had to quit training after five minutes yesterday."

[via @AdamNewson]
— Absolute Chelsea (@AbsoluteChelsea) March 21, 2021

The Blues boss said as per Football London: “Yes, he quit training yesterday after a five-minute warm-up so there was more or less no chance he could join the squad today. It was the same injury, more or less, but he had a re-injury in more or less the same spot where the first injury, so he is in pain. He had to quit the session after five minutes with no chance he could join us today.”

In general, Abraham has struggled for chances under Tuchel but the German boss says the focus for Abraham should be getting fit.

He continued: “Yes, the most important thing for Tammy is to be fit. The second is then to take things step by step, to train and fight for his way back. His way back is maybe to be a substitute and to be hungry and full of quality in training. These are the next steps.

“Now is not the time to worry about the first eleven because he is out now for many games, unfortunately too many games. It’s absolutely not his fault and he is hungry to come back. He tries all the time but this is the risk with pushing the players to be back as soon as possible.”

“It was an accident in training because we thought he was in the squad today. So nobody’s fault. So now is a kind of restart and we hope he can use the next two weeks to get fit again.”