Chelsea captain Reece James has suffered another setback after injuring a hamstring in training, Blues manager Enzo Maresca has revealed.
The 24-year-old missed much of last season after undergoing hamstring surgery, which was designed to help him overcome a series of injuries, but returned to action last month.
Maresca played down concerns about a long-term lay-off but confirmed James will miss Saturday’s match at Leicester.
He said: “We have just one injured player and that’s Reece [James] who unfortunately felt something small in training two days ago and we don’t want to take a risk for the weekend.
“It’s a hamstring, muscular problem. We will see, we don’t know for how long, for sure [we want him fit for longer]. At the moment it is not happening but we hope it will happen soon.
“He is out this weekend but hopefully he can be back soon. It’s probably difficult that he can be available for the Conference League [next Thursday], but hopefully soon.”
The likes of Cole Palmer, Levi Colwill, Wesley Fofana, Malo Gusto and Romeo Lavia are all available despite pulling out of international duty last week.
But there is caution around Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez with Maresca saying his starting team will “not be at 100%”, with those travelling from international duty in South America completing just one training session on Friday before the match.
James’ injury woes continue
James has suffered his eighth hamstring injury in four years, according to Transfermarkt data.
He has suffered a further half dozen injuries to his knee, thigh and ankle – as well as an absence with illness.
Upon his return against Liverpool in October, it had been 562 days since James last managed to play a full 90 minutes in the Premier League, with the subsequent match a week later at home to Newcastle his first full match completed in well over a year.
Since breaking into Chelsea’s senior squad in the 2019-20 season, James’s best run of matches is six achieved in May 2021.
His most league starts in a single season is 25 matches while last season he played just 482 minutes in total because of injury and two red cards.
Last December he underwent surgery in Finland, which had been designed to help him overcome the issues permanently. But he has suffered his second setback since the season started, after initially injuring himself in Chelsea’s penultimate pre-season match against Real Madrid in the United States.
James has also not been involved with England since March 2023.
While in the US he was asked about his goals for the coming season. He replied: “I have one goal. My goal is to stay on the pitch.”
