Injury-plagued forgotten Chelsea man ruled out for another month after freak incident in training as Blues weigh up Douglas Luiz loan

Essugo initially suffered a serious thigh injury in September, with Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior confirming the youngster's latest setback on Friday. "Dario picked up a really unfortunate injury," Rosenior said. "He slipped in training and he is going to be out for a while, over a month. It is a real shame because he is an outstanding player who I was really looking forward to working with."

The 20-year-old's absence is a blow for the Blues, who are also currently without Romeo Lavia, the Belgian missing for the west London side since November. Essugo and Lavia's absence has prompted speculation that Chelsea may look to bring in a new midfielder this month. Rosenior, though, insists he is content with his current options.

"In terms of our midfield options, we have got Enzo (Fernandez), Moi (Caicedo), Andrey Santos, Reece James…it is not bad," Rosenior continued. "I have been really clear on this. I don’t want to bring in players who don’t enhance the group or the chemistry we are building. We have to be very selective if we do bring a player in a certain position, they have to have a clear impact on the team."

Chelsea have since been linked with a move for Douglas Luiz as the Blues weigh up whether to bring in another central midfielder this month. Luiz is currently on loan at Nottingham Forest but has struggled for regular minutes since moving to the City Ground from Juventus.

The 27-year-old was hampered by a hamstring problem earlier in the season, yet has been restricted to just five league starts for the Tricky Trees. Additionally, the Brazilian has started just three Premier League matches since Sean Dyche succeeded Ange Postecoglou at the helm.

That lack of game time has prompted speculation that Forest may look to terminate Luiz's loan deal, which would pave the way for Chelsea to sign the midfielder for the remainder of the campaign. The Blues aren't the only side credited with an interest in Luiz, with former side Aston Villa also monitoring the player's situation.

Luiz departed Villa for Juventus 18 months ago, but the Villans are considering whether to bring the Brazil international back to Villa Park following confirmation that Boubacar Kamara would miss the rest of the season following a knee injury sustained in the 2-1 FA Cup third round with over Tottenham earlier this month.

Former Chelsea man Ruben Loftus-Cheek has also emerged as a potential target for Villa.

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Luiz started Forest's 1-0 Europa League loss at Braga but was hooked with 20 minutes to play, and was an unused sub in recent league meetings with West Ham and Arsenal. Yet despite a lack of game time, Forest head coach Sean Dyche has suggested that he doesn't want to lose Luiz this month.

"He is a very good player," Dyche said of Luiz on Friday. "I said when we played him in Europe (before Christmas) we probably rushed him back, but because of his experience he has used that wisely to be back.

"It doesn't surprise me there is interest from other clubs in good players. That's the nature of the business. "It's a doubled-edged sword. You sort of want people interested in your players, that means they are doing a good job and are good players, but you don't because you don't want them coming knocking on the door. That's part of modern football."

Chelsea take on Crystal Palace on Sunday as they look to make it four wins from five under Rosenior. The Blues have beaten Charlton, Brentford and Pafos with Rosenior at the Stamford Bridge helm, though did lose their EFL Cup semi-final first leg to Arsenal, falling to a 3-2 loss at home.