Reece James potential return revealed as Chelsea star flies out to see knee specialist

Reece James’s knee injury is worse than initially feared and Chelsea are now weighing up the option of surgery which could ultimately rule him out of the World Cup next month.

There had been reports flying around that the England defender just needed two weeks to get back to playing, but following a knee scan in London has revealed the true extent of damage and he could be sidelined for sometime.

Chelsea flew both Kalidou Koulibaly and Wesley Fofana to the US to have their medical and there is belief within the club that James will be flown to the United States to be checked out by a specialist.

There is still a chance that he might not need surgery as the player is desperate to play for England at the World Cup, having emerged as by far the first choice for Gareth Southgate.

The defender will also go under the knife in the hope that his recovery will be in time for the tournament in Qatar. However whether he makes it will depend on the extent of damage to his knee.

Last season, Chelsea left back Ben Chilwell suffered a similar knee injury against Juventus and was ruled out for most of the campaign. There are still slim hopes that James might not have to do a similar amount of time.

There is the outside chance that he would still only be out for a couple of weeks, and come back for the Brighton and Hove Albion game towards the end of the month.

Chelsea manager Graham Potter wasn’t giving too much away during his press conference ahead of the game at Aston Villa this weekend.

He said: “He is due to see  a specialist over the weekend and until we get the results there is not too much I can add on that.”

Chelsea have won four of their last five games and Reece James has been by far the best player for the Blues so far this season.