COBHAM, ENGLAND - JULY 9: Emanuel Emegha of Chelsea during a training session at Chelsea Training Ground on July 9, 2026 in Cobham, United Kingdom. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images) | Chelsea FC via Getty ImagesA series of injuries, mostly of the hamstring variety, limited Emmanuel Emegha to just 18 appearances for RC Strasbourg last season, and unfortunately the young strikers rotten luck appears to be continuing. He picked up another hamstring strain in Chelseas behind-closed-doors friendly win against Bromley the other day, and thats now ruled him out of our entire preseason tour (not just the start of it).The good news is that the striker is not expected to be out for too long, though obviously its not great that hes missing out on the tour and the training time with Xabi Alonso. The 18-year-old has scored in both of our behind-closed-doors friendlies that had been held since the start of preseason training at Cobham 3-1 against Crawley Town and 3-0 against Bromley but now hes had to stay behind and is not expected to rejoin before the squad return to England in three weeks.Emegha is battling with Liam Delap and Nicolas Jackson for the backup striker role behind Joo Pedro, and right now, that seems to be anyones opportunity to convince Alonso and win the job.(The other surprising name to stay behind for fitness reasons at Cobham, Geovany Quenda, is expected to join up with the squad shortly, thankfully.)Emegha is expected to be back in time for the start of the Premier League season but will likely miss the overseas pre-season tour while recovering. https://t.co/eMmM0tJ36p Nizaar Kinsella (@NizaarKinsella) July 25, 2026