Reece James has taken to social media once more to offer a message to Chelsea fans. It comes after he was substituted off against Bournemouth after 53 minutes with an injury which Graham Potter said afterwards was in the same area that kept him sidelined since October.
The 23-year-old had already posted a message on Wednesday morning. He wrote: "2022 has been the toughest year to date. Just wanna thank you all for the support, none of you go unnoticed. It’s naturally effected me mentally, I’m currently just tryna (sic) deal with the cards I’ve been dealt.
"I hope your end of year is filled with peace, joy & happiness." It has since been reported that the England international will miss at least three weeks with this latest setback.
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In a more recent and heartfelt message, James posted to his Instagram story, writing: “It hurts more than you could ever image, I guess it’s another learning lesson, whatever the lesson is, I’m yet to know. I’m sure I’ll look back in the future and understand why this had to happen, growth only takes place when your (sic) challenged.
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"In such a bad situation there's still many things to be thankful for, you guys being one."
James missed a large chunk of last season through injury too and has had a frustrating 2022, with Potter refusing to offer any initial prognosis after the 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge.
“No, not really [there is no update]. It’s too soon. It’s the same area [he injured previously] so we’re concerned. We’ll have to see in the next 24/48 hours," said Potter.
“It’s a bit too soon but I think there was that action, a chop, and he felt something then. We’ll have to see the extent of it and keep our fingers crossed.”
He also added: “He is disappointed, of course. But again, we’re right now at a stage where we’re just hoping it isn’t as bad and we’re keeping our fingers crossed.
“He has been really disappointed to miss the World Cup of course. It was a huge blow for him and he wanted to give himself every chance to be in the squad. You can see today with his quality what he brings to the team. He has had to deal with the injury and try to get back fit. I think he’s done that well.
"We were taking steps and the plan was for him to not play 90 tonight. He was to play 60/65 minutes which was a build-up from what he did previously. So now he’s disappointed and we’ve just got to hope it’s not as bad as it was and he can get on a speedy recovery.”
Chelsea face Manchester City twice and Liverpool in the next month as a tough set of fixtures awaits the squad.
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