Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has downplayed speculations about the club’s need for a new striker in January and distanced Chelsea from rumors linking them to a move for Brighton forward Evan Ferguson. 

Chelsea faced goal-scoring challenges, with Christopher Nkunku and Nicolas Jackson absent during the 1-0 win over Fulham at Stamford Bridge.

Concerns arose when Pochettino, on Friday, expressed the need to assess the situation after Nkunku’s fitness setback. 

The £52 million summer signing from RB Leipzig has struggled with injuries, making only four appearances for the club.

While there are reports of Chelsea’s interest in Napoli’s Victor Osimhen and Brentford’s Ivan Toney, both deals are considered challenging to complete this month. 

When asked specifically about Evan Ferguson, Pochettino responded, “No, I think you know very well I don’t talk about rumours. I am never going to talk about players who are in a different club. I am so respectful. No, we are not talking. We are assessing the squad, and if something happens, we will communicate, but at the moment, we didn’t take any decision.”

Pochettino clarified that he never explicitly stated the need for a new striker, emphasizing, “I never said that we need a centre-forward. No, because after that we create a problem, me with my people. I never said that. I didn’t say that yesterday in my press conference that we need [a striker].”

Despite disruptions before the Fulham match, including an incident before kick-off that Pochettino refused to elaborate on, Chelsea secured a narrow victory with Cole Palmer’s penalty in the first half stoppage-time.

Regarding the incident before the game, Pochettino mentioned, “The first half wasn’t the first half we planned. Something happened before the game but I cannot explain, it affected a little bit the team.”

When pressed for details, Pochettino declined, saying, “No, no, no, nothing, nothing. It was nothing. It is nothing big, small details sometimes affect the team and only you need to know something affected the performance, in my opinion, but it is not important for you and for our fans, to know. Sorry, sorry.”