The personal fitness coach of Reece James has taken to social media to express his frustrations after the Chelsea full-back was forced off with a knock against Bournemouth on Tuesday evening. James was selected to start for Chelsea for the first time since October after recovering from a two-month layoff following a knee injury, which ultimately forced him to miss the World Cup with England.
The 23-year-old quickly got up to speed and was one of his side’s best performers in the opening 45 minutes but was ultimately forced to cut his evening short when he fell to the ground with a knock just after half-time. He was left unable to continue and ventured straight down the tunnel after he was replaced to spark fears over whether he might have suffered an immediate return of his previous injury.
James’ personal trainer, James Ralph, went on to issue a cryptic update to his Instagram story in a now-deleted post that included three angry emojis alongside the caption: “I need to bite my tongue despite having A LOT to say.”
Ralph has worked with James, who he previously described as a ‘hugely dominant athlete’ with a ‘perfect work ethic’, for around 18 months and was in attendance at Stamford Bridge to watch Tuesday’s game against Bournemouth. He has also spent time working alongside the likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Fikayo Tomori before the latter joined AC Milan on a permanent deal last summer.
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Meanwhile, it remains to be seen whether James will be sidelined for an extended period of time as a result of his latest injury scare, with Chelsea boss Graham Potter confirming in his post-match press conference that the Blues defender felt a knock on the same knee that was hurt back in October.
“I’m not sure on the state of the injury, it’s too early to say,” said Potter. “You can see his quality, it’s a blow for us. Fingers crossed. We’ll see how bad it is, we will have to see in the next 24 to 48 hours. [We were] disappointed to lose him as quickly as we did.
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“It’s the same area so we’re concerned, we’ll have to see in the next 24 to 48 hours. It is a bit too soon but it was in that action, a chop, and he felt something. We have to keep our fingers crossed at the moment.
“He is disappointed, of course. At the moment, we’re just hoping it isn’t as bad and we’ll keep our fingers crossed. The plan was for him to not play 90 [minutes] tonight, the plan was for him to play 60 to 65 minutes. We just have to hope it’s not as bad as it was and that he can get on a speedy recovery.”
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