Forgotten Chelsea star spotted after Man United with clear Mauricio Pochettino message

Carney Chukwuemeka has once more sent another update on his recovery from injury as Mauricio Pochettino slowly prepares to welcome back some of his missing players. Chelsea have been without the England Under-21 starlet since the second game of the season and there has been little to go off since.

The 19-year-old arrived from Aston Villa last summer but has only played a bit-part role since and was a target for a host of European clubs including Inter Milan earler this year, football.london understands. He is one of a number of key first teamers that are unavailable for Pochettino currently alongside Ben Chilwell, Christopher Nkunku, Romeo Lavia and Wesley Fofana.

Having come into the season with some questioning his move and also the type of gametime he might get with Nkunku's transfer too, Chukwuemeka was central to the tour of America and started the first two league games. Against West Ham on the second weekend he scored his first professional goal but was forced off just minutes later.

Since then there has been no sign of Chukwuemeka and it is though that he has sustained a setback in his recovery from what were already damaging knee troubles. However, this has changed in recent weeks with the attacking midfielder posting several images of himself in the gym at Cobham.

Chukwuemeka has now done the same again as he looks to step up his return to fitness in the coming weeks. It is still more than two months since he posted an image of himself in team training though with the caption: «Yhh mann [smiley face emoji].»

For Pochettino, he had been able to welcome the teenager back briefly for the trip to Burnley, where he was named on the bench but remained unused. That was to become the exception not the rule for Chukwuemeka,