Chelsea have been handed a major boost as Reece James has returned to full training after a knee injury ruled him out of World Cup contention, with the England defender now targeting a return to action against Bournemouth.
The defender suffered damage to his knee during a Champions League clash with AC Milan at San Siro, and faced a race to return to action ahead of the World Cup. Ultimately, Southgate opted to take a risk on injured pair Kalvin Phillips and Kyle Walker, but that Reece James’ road to recovery was just too long to warrant risking a call up.
“There were too many unknowns,” Southgate said when he was asked why he chose not to add James to the travelling party. “I don’t think we can take a player who’s not available for the group. That would be deemed arrogant in some circles and you’d be dropping him into a quarter-final.”
And the English manager has been proved correct, with James only returning to full training following the Three Lions’ 3-0 win over Senegal, which saw Chelsea teammates Edouard Mendy and Kalidou Koulibaly both sent home from the tournament.
For Chelsea, however, his return will be a major boost, with James a key source of creativity for the side under Thomas Tuchel and likely to remain so under Graham Potter.
And, as per the London Evening Standard, he is not the only returnee targeting the Boxing Day resumption of the Premier League, with both Ben Chilwell and Wesley Fofana both also on the road to recovery and ‘hoping to return’ for the clash with Bournemouth on the 27th December.
Potter will be keen to have all available as he looks to turn around a poor start to the season, which has seen Chelsea slip to eighth place, level with his former side Brighton and sixteen points behind league leaders Arsenal.
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