Team news | Mudryk injured, Kulusevski still out
Roberto De Zerbi has confirmed that Mykhailo Mudryk has been sidelined with an ankle injury.
A deadline day loan arrival from Chelsea, the winger played his first competitive minutes in 20 months when he came on for his debut during the second half of last weekend’s goalless draw at Nottingham Forest.
But after subsequently picking up an ankle issue, he’s now been ruled out of action and will miss Saturday’s clash with Everton at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (5.30pm BST).
“It was a stupid injury for Mudryk and we hope he can be back soon as possible, for him and for us,” said Roberto at Friday’s pre-match press conference. “For him because he has suffered too much and for us because we have lost one player, an important player.
“He played 20 minutes in Nottingham, he played well, but it's a normal process when a player has not played for a long time.”
Pressed on what happened, the Head Coach continued: “He felt pain in the ankle. Then after two days he made the medical check and we knew the problem. But after a long time (not playing), we knew (that this could happen). A stupid injury, but we are not stupid. When we signed Mudryk, we already knew it would be difficult for him to come back as a normal player.”
Roberto also confirmed that long-term absentee Dejan Kulusevski has not trained with the team in recent days: “Kulusevski is not working with us in the last week,” he added. “It’s not a big problem, it’s a normal problem when one player is out for a long time, like Mudryk.”
Kulusevski remains out along with Wilson Odobert and Xavi Simons.