Injury and availability news: Updates on Federico Chiesa, Harvey Elliott and Alexis Mac Allister

Church

Federico has trained with the team three or four times now. Let’s see how he does today and what decision I make (we have more than 20 players), whether to select for a position or to choose those who are fittest at the moment.

Elliott

Harvey is obviously a big disappointment for him, but not just for him, but for us too. Because, OK, he didn’t play that much in the first three games, but in pre-season he played a lot and did really well. If he had stayed fit, he would of course have got a lot of playing time in the coming games.

But now he is not [fit] and that gives someone else a chance as well. So it’s a setback for himself first and foremost and then for us as well because I think availability is important at this stage of the season when we have seven games in 22 days. So it’s a setback for both of us but he’ll work as hard as he always does to come back in the best way possible.

Unfortunately, he did not stay fit and will therefore be out for a longer period of time.

Mac Allister

He was out in the last game [Mac Allister came off the bench for Argentina on Tuesday night] but he trained with us yesterday. I expect Macca to be with us tomorrow.