Thomas Tuchel confirmed on Friday afternoon that Denis Zakaria will not be involved on Saturday against West Ham following his deadline day loan from Juventus.
Chelsea have confirmed they have an option to sign the Switzerland international permanently for what is believed to be a fee in the region of £30million after his season-long loan from the Serie A club.
But the 25-year-old will have to wait to make his Premier League debut for Chelsea, as Tuchel detailed during his press conference. "We need to work on the work permit so he will not be in the squad on Saturday, we hope for Tuesday."
READ MORE: Full list of every confirmed Chelsea 2022/23 summer transfer in and out after Aubameyang deal
Chelsea face West Ham at Stamford Bridge following their 2-1 defeat away at Southampton on Tuesday evening. Zakaria could make his first appearance on Tuesday in the UEFA Champions League opening group game away at Dinamo Zagreb.
Zakaria was one of two major arrivals on deadline day, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang also joining the Blues from Barcelona taking the club's overall spend past £250m: the most spent by any Premier League club in a single transfer window.
"We can discuss endlessly if we overspent or it was too much but these are excellent players who were needed." Tuchel said in response to questions over the record-breaking expense.
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