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Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kante could reportedly be back in action by the end of February.
The veteran midfielder suffered a hamstring injury during the Blues' 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspur in their second game of the campaign. He has since been out of action.
The Frenchman was due to return early but aggravated the injury in October last year. He also missed the FIFA World Cup in Qatar with France.
Now, as per L'Equipe, Kante could be back in action by the end of February. While it is still over a month away, it would be a big boost for manager Graham Potter.
Speaking previously about the midfielder's injury, the English manager said:
“My goal is to help him get back to form as soon as possible, and get him back on the pitch in the right way, because we haven’t seen him.”
Chelsea have had to deal with numerous injury issues over the campaign with key players like Kante, Reece James and Ben Chilwell being out for extended periods.
Potter has used the likes of Conor Gallagher and Denis Zakaria in midfield but the Blues have missed Kante's industry and experience. They are currently 10th in the Premier League table and have been eliminated from all domestic cup competitions.
Kante, 31, has made 262 appearances for Chelsea since joining from Leicester City in 2016. Notably, his contract with the west London club expires in the summer.
Chelsea looking to add reinforcements in midfield
As per The Telegraph, the west London side will look to sign a midfielder in the summer. They were interested in signing Benfica's Enzo Fernandez in January but the deal didn't go through.
Chelsea are now interested in signing Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Matheus Nunes, who has also been linked with Liverpool. The Reds were looking to sign him last summer from Sporting CP but he ended up joining Wolves instead.
Nunes has made 24 appearances across competitions this season, registering one goal and two assists. He is likely to cost around £55 million in the summer.
The Blues are also monitoring West Ham United's Declan Rice and Brighton & Hove Albion's Moises Caicedo.
Kante and Jorginho's contracts with the club expire in the summer and the latter is expected to leave. Hence, Chelsea are looking to bring in reinforcements in midfield in the summer.
