“He does not travel with us to the Club World Cup” – Thomas Tuchel provides update on Chelsea star

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has provided a grim update on Blues star Reece James ahead of the Club World Cup.

The reigning European champions travel to Abu Dhabi, UAE next week for the semi-finals of the competition and the right-back won't be a part of their squad.

The German was asked to give an update on his medical condition at a recent press conference and said James is still some way from returning to training with the group.

"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."

James, who's been injured six times since the start of the 2019-20 season, picked up a fresh knock to his hamstring at the end of December and has been missing in action ever since.

He was a revelation in the Chelsea squad until then, scoring four goals and making five assists in 16 Premier League appearances, whilst also netting once against Juventus in the Champions League.

Chelsea's key defender to return soon

If he would've needed surgery, James would've been ruled out for the remainder of Chelsea's season, but fortunately for him and his club, it wasn't needed.

He's currently on course to return to action as soon as next week, after the squad returns from the Club World Cup.

Tuchel is cautious of the situation and wants to approach the defender's case with patience while admitting that James is working hard to achieve fitness.

"For Reece, I am too long a coach to not get overexcited by pure dates that are maybe out there. 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."

Chelsea will play the winner of Al Hilal vs Al Jazira in the semi-finals of the Club World Cup on Wednesday, February 9.