Thomas Tuchel has confirmed that Chelsea star Reece James suffered a setback in his rehabilitation from his hamstring injury but is hopeful the defender can return to team training next week.
James suffered the injury in December's clash with Brighton where he was forced off in the first half after a challenge from Yves Bissouma, which left him moving gingerly before he signalled to the bench.
There was hope the 22-year-old would return in time for Chelsea's Club World Cup campaign in Abu Dhabi but a bout of flu delivered a setback that prevented him rejoining first team training and had a knock on effect.
James still made the trip out to the UAE and received a medal as Chelsea won the competition, alongside Ben Chilwell.
Tuchel lamented the wing-back's absence but was hopeful that he could rejoin the group in the coming days.
The Blues boss said: "It's too long for Reece, we miss him a lot.
"I had the feeling from the start that we have to deal with a big injury. Unfortunately my feeling is right.
"We had a little bit of a setback because he caught the flu in a moment he was very close to rejoining team training. This was a setback.
"Like always, you have a risk with a very physical player like Reece is, and a big muscle injury, you have to consider sometimes there is a delay to the comback like there is right now.
"He is still in individual training progressing a lot, doing almost everything that you can do in individual training. The plan is that he rejoins the group next week."
However, the 48-year-old coach would not be pressed on when that could mean James returns to action, given the length of time the academy product has been missing from first team football.
He added: "It's a long time now, it's seven weeks, eight weeks.
"I know everyone in the physical department is doing an excellent job so once he is in the team training we can rely that he did a lot and is ready to be under a certain amount of pressure and of freedom of movement and acceleration otherwise they would not free him for team training.
"I don't know, every time I say now would be wrong, I would be guessing. I hope he comes back to team training next week as the next step and hopefully then I can give you more insight."
