McKenna: Philogene in Squad, Tuanzebe and Szmodics Not Far From Return
The 22-year-old Philogene, whose long-awaited transfer from Aston Villa was finally finalized on Wednesday night, made just four starts and eleven substitute appearances for the Villans after joining from Hull City in the summer. His most recent appearance was 31 minutes off the bench against Southampton at the beginning of December. He has also had a minor fitness issue.
McKenna responded that it would be decided over the weekend if the England U21 international would be prepared to play against Manchester City on Sunday.
The Blues manager stated after the team’s 2-0 loss to Brighton, “We’ll decide that over the next 24/48 hours.” He received a knock on his back during the past week, so he missed some training, but he is now well.
He trained alone this afternoon [Thursday], and on Friday he will train with the group for the first time. It will also help that he is a naturally highly fit boy.
On Sunday, he will be part of the team. We’ll have to wait and see how many minutes we use him.
After suffering a groin injury, Omari Hutchinson was a surprise starter against the Seagulls. McKenna said the former Chelsea player’s performance in Thursday’s game will also be assessed.
He remarked, “Once more, we’ll have to judge it.” “Omari, he has a tendency to bounce back quickly, so he had healed well from the minor strain he had and felt quite confident and comfortable during the game. He must, of course, be evaluated over the course of the next day to determine his condition for Sunday.
After suffering a hamstring injury, defender Axel Tuanzebe is getting closer to making a comeback, but McKenna believes the DR Congo international will probably be able to play in the trip to Liverpool next week instead of this weekend.
“In the next 24 hours, we’ll need to evaluate it once more,” he added. Although it will likely be too soon, the good news is that it will be a really close call. Although he is not too far away, we believe that this Sunday may arrive too soon.
Additionally, Sammie Szmodics, who injured his ankle at Fulham two weeks ago, is getting closer to making a comeback.
McKenna stated, “He had an ankle scan, and he’s not too bad.” Although he hasn’t yet trained with the group or anything similar, he is not too far away. We’ll check in with him over the next three days.
In addition to Conor Chaplin (knee) and Chiedozie Ogbene (achilles), Town will be missing Kalvin Phillips on Sunday since the England international is ineligible to play against his parent club.
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