Chelsea fans have reacted with frustration after Enzo Maresca confirmed that club captain Reece James has suffered another injury setback.
The skipper embarked on his latest comeback a month ago and had been used sparingly by his new manager in an effort to ease him back into the first team picture.
James made four appearances in the space of three weeks prior to the international break and had been hoping to use the last fortnight to step up his rehabilitatoin.
Unfortunately, the 24-year-old has sustained a new hamstring injury and won’t feature this weekend against Leicester City.
‘We have just one injured player, that is Reece [James],’ said the Chelsea boss as this pre-match press conference. ‘He felt something small and we don’t want to take any risk.
‘He is the only one for sure who is injured. The rest, some are better, some are still a doubt. We have to see.
‘It’s hamstring, it’s a muscle problem and we don’t want to take any risk.’
While the Blues are able to boast more than adequate cover in the shape of Malo Gusto, the latest James update represents a major blow to fans who have been longing to see rampaging right-back thrive in Maresca’s new-look team.
‘Reece james might never reach his peak at Chelsea,’ said one dejected fan, while another added ‘Either sell him or he needs to retire at this point and take up coaching….. availability is the best ability.’
‘I wouldn’t sell him but we need another right-back asap,’ said another supporter who was running out of patience.
James is not the only high-profile member of Chelsea’s defence who has been struck down with injury this season with Maresca regularly having been forced to chop and change.
‘We changed full-backs with the way we want to play,’he said when asked if he knew his best defence.
‘One day, we want to move the centre-backs too.’