Chelsea boss Graham Potter has revealed how he has tried to comfort defender Reece James as it was revealed that he won't be involved in the World Cup with England this winter. The 22-year-old picked up a knee injury in the clash against AC Milan in the Champions League.
Since then, it's been a race against time for the Cobham academy graduate to return in time for the tournament, however he revealed that the turnaround was too quick to be involved for his nation. "Devastated," James wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. "The minute I injured my knee, I knew the turnaround to make the World Cup would be tight, but I always felt it was possible.
"I've worked harder than I ever thought I could to give myself the best chance of going and truly believed I could help the team. I appreciate there was risk on both sides but it was one I was willing to take. Good luck to the boys. I'll be back soon. Stay safe and sending love."
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After the defender announced missing out on the World Cup, manager Graham Potter revealed how he has tried to help the youngster, telling Sky Sports: "He’s tried his best, it was a blow, a blow for him of course, a blow for England and a blow for us. He came off against Milan and at that point everything was looking okay, of course a world class player like Reece we miss.
"So now it’s just about trying to I suppose give him the perspective that he’s got a long career ahead, a big career ahead and a lot of time. But there’s not too much you can say at the moment when there’s a World Cup and he wants to play.”
It comes amid plenty of criticism over the timing of the competition, which has traditionally been hosted during the summer, but has been moved to the winter since Qatar are hosting it. It has caused plenty of disruption around the fixture schedule and injuries that are building up has only increased scrutiny over the timing.
It was something Potter also questioned, adding: "We were talking about it, you know, whoever wins the World Cup, what does that look like? You’ve got to say ‘listen guys, don’t have that open top bus or don’t celebrate with your country, you’ve gotta get back because we’ve got Bournemouth on Tuesday’, I say that with the greatest of respect to Bournemouth, you know my point. It’s unique, it is what it is and we’ve got to deal with it.”
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