Newcastle United hit with potential transfer blow as £57m Chelsea star suffers new injury

A knee injury for Christian Pulisic is set to keep the American at Chelsea this month.

The 24-year-old was forced to withdraw after just 22 minutes during the Blues’ 1-0 defeat to Premier League champions Manchester City last week.

Pulisic had been linked with a potential exit during the January transfer window due to his restricted game time but that has seemingly been scuppered following his latest setback.

Newcastle United are reportedly among the clubs who have shown interest in the winger, though the form of Miguel Almiron has made strengthening the wide forward position less of a priority.

A loan deal was mooted for Pulisic, who moved to Stamford Bridge from Borussia Dortmund in 2019 for £57million.

Chelsea, who sit 10th in the top-flight table, 10 points and six positions below Newcastle, are without currently without nine senior players, including the likes of N’Golo Kante, Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Ben Chillwall, Raheem Sterling and Edouard Mendy.

Graham Potter is, however, looking forward to working Portugal international Joao Felix, who has moved to Stamford Bridge on loan for the remainder of the campaign from Atletico Madrid.

“He’s a quality player,” said Potter. He will make a difference in the final third of the pitch and I’m looking forward to working with him.

“He’s young, but still has lots of good experience and it’s given us all a bit of a lift. I’ve been aware of the potential deal for a while but the injuries we’ve had maybe sharpened our focus on it.

“But it’s nice to get him here and he’s been training today, which is positive for us.”