Mauricio Pochettino says Wesley Fofana and Romeo Lavia will be factored into next season’s plans as he hopes the injured duo return for Chelsea.
The Argentine has his smallest injury list since the start of the season, and just four players are out for the remaining two matches against Brighton and Bournemouth.
Lavia has played just once for Chelsea since signing in a £55million deal from Southampton and is on the injury list along with Fofana, who hasn’t played all season. Robert Sanchez and Enzo Fernandez are also unavailable, albeit with shorter-term issues.
Christopher Nkunku and Reece James have missed much of the season, but Pochettino will consider their injuries when conducting post-season transfers.
“Now is going to start a period where players want to leave, maybe some offers arrive or players that we want to add to the squad. Of course, we have already started to work on this,” Pochettino told reporters.
“In the case of Romeo Lavia, Christopher Nkunku, Reece James. We need to pay attention in the way we need to provide them with a possibility to be fit. Now it is not only a challenge to have them fit now but in the way we manage for a whole season so there are no setbacks again.
“Of course, in football you always need to take some risks but they have the quality to take some risks.”
When asked if Fofana could be back for pre-season, he added:” We hope so yes. He is doing well, very positive, we were talking yesterday and hope he can be available to be part of the group.”
Chelsea have lost just one of their last 13 matches and, after a solid finish to the season, look likely to qualify for Europe.
Nicolas Jackson is among the players who has impressed in recent weeks.
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Pochettino added: “Nico has the potential to be a very, very good striker. A fantastic striker. Only it’s about patience and time.
“He got amazing criticism from the beginning because he was compared to [Didier] Drogba from the start.
“When I talk about the history of the club, it’s the same. If you judge, or the people judge us because we are in Chelsea…but we don’t have the same, we are in a process to build too much.
“I am so happy that now the people they start to see Nico in the way we saw. When the player deserves for us to back him, like in the case of Nico.”
He also praised Moises Caicedo’s form in recent weeks, adding: “I expect more from him even if he is doing well, I think next season I have no doubt he will be much better. Now he knows what it means to play for Chelsea, all of the pressure off.”
But denied Caicedo is better without his usual midfield partner Fernandez, who opted to have surgery on a hernia problem.
“Enzo is a fantastic player who can fit in any team in the world,” he added. “He will become stronger with one year's worth of experience. He is going to be fantastic for Chelsea."
