Exclusive update on world class Chelsea star brings clarity over setback rumours | OneFootball

When it was announced just before the start of the season that Reece James had a hamstring injury, we were disappointed but not surprised.

Tragically, it’s been the story of his career so far. But were assured it was minor. The prediction that he would be back after the September international break seemed cautious. In fact, we seem to be no closer to seeing him, and even the October international break is starting to look a little hopeful now. Every week he’s out is another week of fitness he will need to regain.

GiveMeSport have exclusive information about the defender’s slow progress which claims that there has been no “setback,” just an unusually slow recovery from the issue. They say the full back is “eager” to get back into full training, and we’ve seen him at Cobham on the grass – but it still doesn’t feel like anything is imminent.

Reece James playing for Chelsea in preseason. (Photo by Jeff Dean/Getty Images)

James long beyond the point of reliability

At this point, we’re long beyond every relying on Reece. We’ve got a great alternative in Malo Gusto. When James is fit to play – great. But the club should basically pretend he doesn’t exist for the purposes of planning their squad.

Clearly it’s a priority to bring him back slowly and surely from any issue, but that doesn’t seem to help much either. The surgery he had a year ago was supposed to help too – but here we are again. We just can’t see a world in which he ever plays a full season again which is a brutal tragedy given he’s one of the truly world class players our academy has produced.

For the future, the club either need to start trusting Josh Acheampong as a right back, or buy a new one. Gusto and James is not enough given James is