Reece James injury suspected to be a broken ankle — report

Reece James suffered an ankle injury Friday night while playing for England at the Toulon Tournament, and had to be stretchered off while receiving oxygen for the shock. Subsequent reports are not painting a nice picture either.

According to the Mail, for example, the injury is suspected to be a broken ankle, which would rule out the 19-year-old for about 3-4 months (at least, on average). Eden Hazard suffered a fractured ankle almost exactly two years ago and did not return to action until early September, and did not start a match until last day of the same month. But Hazard’s injury was also a clean break, with minimal collateral damage (ligaments, etc.). It’s unclear how bad James’ injury truly is at the moment, but it’s not great.

Even if Reece makes a quick recovery, he’s certainly set to miss pre-season, which was going to be most crucial for a 19-year-old hot prospect looking to break into first-team reckoning. While it’s not even clear who the head coach will be at this point, James doesn’t have Hazard’s clout to simply walk back into a first-team starting job once fit, to say the least.

James is the third major injury suffered by a Chelsea youngster with first-team aspirations in the last few weeks, and that’s in addition to Antonio Rüdiger’s latest knee operation and the unknown severity of N’Golo Kanté’s knee problem. What on Earth is going on?