‘He won’t travel with us! Tuchel rules out Chelsea star out of Club World Cup team
Ahead of Club World Cup, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel revealed on Friday that Chelsea right-back Reece James will not return from injury in time for the Club World Cup.
However, Reece James has been out injured since picking up hamstring injury at the end of December and despite returning to individual training this week, he won’t ready for the Club World Cup.
Tuchel said: “He is not in team training yet, so maybe that answers the question.”
“After a couple of weeks, he will need some time in team training to get the confidence back.
“He does not travel with us to the Club World Cup.”
Chelsea face League One outfit Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday in the lunchtime kick-off before travelling to Abu Dhabi to play in the Club World Cup on Wednesday.
Tuchel also revealed that James’ rehabilitation has also been delayed by the England international suffering with flu recently.
“For Reece, I am too long a coach to not get overexcited by pure dates that are maybe out there,” Tuchel added.
“I know you can have setbacks and can take long sometimes. The injury was a big injury and I felt it straight away.
“The diagnosis was straight away it was a big injury and from there we have to be patient. It’s always a bit of a tricky one and he is a physical player.
“He caught flu in the last week and lost days in his process of coming back to the team.
“We are patient and we want to have him on the pitch tomorrow, of course, but it’s not happening at the moment and we have to stay patient. He works hard and is in best hands.”
James has been a key figure this season, scoring four goals and registering five assists in 16 Premier League games.