Reece James ankle NOT broken; still could be out for months — report

According to a report from Goal, the ankle injury that Chelsea defender Reece James suffered on Friday while playing for England U20 at the Toulon Tournament is not as bad as initially thought.

Earlier reports, which followed soon after the 19-year-old was stretchered off against Chile, suspected a broken ankle, which would’ve ruled him out for at least 3-4 months. But X-rays have apparently shown that is not the case and the injury is instead just a “heavy sprain”. That can mean a whole range of things, but most likely still carries with it a 1-3 month recovery period. James is expected to report back to Cobham tomorrow (Sunday) for further tests to determine the severity of sprain, before Chelsea can decide a proper course of rehabilitation for him.

Had the initial suspicions of a broken ankle proved correct, Reece would’ve missed the entire pre-season and the start of the regular season as well. In this new scenario, he will hopefully get a chance to truly establish himself under whoever the new coach coming in may be. It will all depend on how quickly he can recover from this latest unfortunate injury.

The situation is still far from ideal, with Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, N’Golo Kanté, and Antonio Rüdiger all spending their summer holidays rehabbing various injuries. But with some relatively good news arriving on James’ ankle, perhaps the tide is turning.