JoaoJoao Pedro and Reece James respond as Chelsea midfielder suffers shattering injury blow
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(Credit: Hasan Karim - Breaking Media, Imago, Andrew Yates/Sportimage)
Oliver Walton
Wed 10 September 2025 7:00, UK
Chelsea’s star players have all joined together to provide support to an injured teammate after he released an emotional statement following surgery online.
Chelsea have started the 2025-26 campaign in great form, with two wins and a draw from their first three Premier League games to leave them currently sitting in second place.
Enzo Maresca‘s side have had a successful few months on the pitch, winning the Conference League in May and the Club World Cup in July, but their achievements have not come without their setbacks.
Summer signing Liam Delap suffered a hamstring tear last time out against Fulham and is facing another nine weeks on the sidelines, while Cole Palmer has sat out of the previous two games with a groin issue, and Levi Colwill is set to be sidelined for the majority of the campaign after suffering an ACL injury.
Another big blow for Chelsea has been confirmed in the last 24 hours, and the majority of their squad has reacted accordingly after the newly-injured player penned an emotional message on social media.
Credit: Imago
Chelsea signed young midfielder Dario Essugo from Sporting CP for around £18.5million [The Athletic] in the summer, and he featured three times in the Club World Cup before watching on from the bench in each of their first three league matches.
The 20-year-old joined up with Portugal’s Under-21 side during the international break, but suffered an injury in training for his country as Chelsea released a statement on Tuesday (9 September) confirming that he had undergone successful surgery on his thigh.
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His time-frame for recovery is currently unclear, but Essugo somewhat allayed fans fears of a lengthy absence by posting a picture of him in hospital to Instagram on Tuesday and saying: “Unfortunately, during this international break with the National Team I felt something in my thigh that required surgery and will keep me out for a while.
I’ll be back stronger.”
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A number of Chelsea players reacted to Essugo’s statement, with Joao Pedro saying: “Melhoras mano,” which translates to “get well soon bro,” while Blues captain Reece James replied with: “Speedy recovery brother.”
Tosin Adarabioyo showed his support by saying: “My bro.” with a red heart emoji, and Delap also left that emoji in the replies, with Enzo Fernandez adding: “Vamos maquina,” which translates to “Let’s go machine.”
Maresca will obviously not have wanted any more of his players to get injured following numerous early-season blows to his key men, but he specifically will have wished for his central midfield contingent to remain fit with numbers now seriously thin on the ground.
It is strange to think that Chelsea are short in a particular area of the pitch after such an expensive summer window, yet Essugo will be greatly missed as the Champions League starts up again soon due to Romeo Lavia already being on the sidelines.
Credit: Imago
Lavia has not played since suffering a muscle problem at the CWC against Benfica, and even though he has been back training on the grass, it is going to take him a while to get up to speed after also missing large parts of last season with a number of different injury issues.
Having Essugo fit and ready to go when needed will have been ideal, and Maresca would likely have handed him more game-time and potentially consistent starts over the next few weeks, but Andrey Santos is instead now their only fit, match-ready back-up in central midfield, which is a big problem.