In an encouraging turn of events, N’Golo Kante has returned to Chelsea’s Cobham training base to work on his fitness after missing almost a week of training in small groups.
According to The Telegraph, it’s actually been a couple of days since the France international began training solo for the first time since he was granted compassionate leave due to his coronavirus fears. He only had one training session with his teammates last Tuesday.
Frank Lampard has already held talks with the 29-year-old about the phase two protocols which suppose the beginning of contact training. The manager has tried to assure his key player about the safety measures the club has taken in recent days.
Earlier, it was reported that the Blues were prepared to allow the midfielder to miss the remainder of the 2019/20 Premier League campaign if fears over the coronavirus pandemic continue to linger.
Kante reportedly expressed his reservations about attending group training due to his previous health problems, with the 29-year-old worried that he might contract the virus and pass it on to his family members.
The 2018 World Cup winner lost his brother to a heart attack and he supposedly fears that his family is more vulnerable to the killer bug, with recent studies revealing that BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic men and women) are nearly twice as likely to die from COVID-19 as white people. As per Willy Caballero, although Kante tested negative for the coronavirus, he had a bad time with symptoms of the deadly virus during the quarantine.
Now, with June 17 confirmed officially as provisional restart date, there’ll be a level of certainty about the teams’ preparations for the matches, so Kante’s presence at the training ground is a positive step forward.