Chelsea captain Reece James has an outside chance of making the squad for Sunday’s game against Liverpool at Anfield according to reports.
James has yet to make an appearance for the Blues this season but made his long awaited return to first team training on Monday, with Noni Madueke also making a surprise return given he had played for England against Finland on Sunday.
The 24-year-old has been plagued by injury over the past couple of seasons and missed almost five months of the 2023/2024 campaign with a hamstring injury which he underwent surgery on.
James could make the Chelsea squad for Liverpool
James has missed 129 games through injury during his five years in the first team at Stamford Bridge and Chelsea have rightly been very cautious about getting him back on the pitch.
The England international has slowly been building up his fitness, but Chelsea still haven’t put a date on a possible return to action, but it’s possible they could use games in the Conference League as the ideal opportunity to ease James back into action.
One of the big reasons Chelsea have been able to be so cautious with James and give him all the time he needs is because of Malo Gusto, with the Frenchman more than proving his worth with his performances and he’s arguably been on one of the club’s most important signings in recent years.
Whilst a return date for James is unknown Sky Sports News have reported there’s an outside chance James could be included in the squad for Sunday.
It’s certainly possible, but it would be a big surprise given he’s only just returned to first team training and perhaps a more realistic return could be against Panathinaikos in the Conference League on October 24th.
When James does return it’s not a given he instantly replaces Gusto in the side and it could be a number of games before he returns to the starting line-up.
