Overview

• The Portuguese Football Federation said Essugo was excused from Portugal Under-21 training with a muscle problem in his right thigh and was declared unavailable after evaluation.
• The issue was reported to have been felt after a national-team training session.
• Chelsea have not released a medical update, and the midfielder is a doubt for Saturday’s west London derby away at Brentford.
• Essugo, 20, joined from Sporting CP in June for £18.5 million and is viewed as an understudy to Moises Caicedo.
• He is yet to start for Chelsea, with three substitute outings at the Club World Cup and unused bench roles in all three Premier League matches so far.