Tuchel reveals why Reece James has been slow to recover from his injury
2 min readReece James is expected to return to training this week after an injury setback, with Tuchel revealing reasons for the slow recovery.
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel is hoping Reece James will be able to return to training this week, but the game against Lille on Tuesday night may be too soon for the defender.
James limped out of Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Brighton at Stamford Bridge in December, and despite the medical team’s best efforts, he was eventually revealed to be out for two months.
His absence was compounded by the fact that English left-back Ben Chilwell has been ruled out for the remainder of the season after suffering a knee injury against Juventus in November 2021.
Due to the injury to the trusty tandem, the club attempted to re-sign Emerson Palmieri from Lyon, but the French club refused to release the Italian left-back, citing an agreement between the two teams.
Recce James, who was pictured in Abu Dhabi as Chelsea swept to their Club World Cup victory, had been expected to be fit for the Champions League quarterfinal game against Lille tomorrow night.
However, according to his manager, Thomas Tuchel, the 22-year-old had the flu, which slowed his recovery, and the nature of his large muscles has caused his whole healing process to take longer than expected.
Tuchel told the press when asked about the possibility of James returning to team training: “I had the feeling right from the very start that we had to deal with a big injury and unfortunately, my feeling was right. We had a little bit of a setback because he caught the flu in the moment when he was very close to rejoining team training.
“You always have the risk with a very physical player like Reece, a big muscle injury sometimes there is a delay in the comeback.
“It has been a long time now. We have been speaking for about seven weeks, eight weeks.
“I know that everybody in the physical department is doing an excellent job, so once he is in team training we can rely on the fact that he did a lot and he is ready to be under a certain amount of pressure and of freedom of movement and acceleration. Otherwise they will not make him free for team training.”
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