Reece James recovered from injury, ‘in contention’ to start against Fulham — report

Chelsea have reportedly agreed the transfer of 19-year-old right back Malo Gusto yesterday, but he will finish out the rest of the season at Olympique Lyonnais and won’t be actually joining us until the summer. Thankfully, it sounds like Reece James should be ready to return when our mini-break is over, and, as per the Telegraph, is “in contention” to start next Friday against Fulham.

Best January signing yet!

Reece has been dealing with this knee injury since before the World Cup, and his recovery hasn’t exactly been smooth or straightforward, involving a random trip to Dubai and a failed comeback attempt a month ago that lasted 60 minutes. Hopefully things will go better this time around! James had been back in training, in at least limited capacity, for a couple weeks now, so presumably we will have indeed ensured he’s fully ready to return.

If Reece can find his form quickly and can stay uninjured, we should be set for the rest of the season with the likes of César Azpilicueta and Trevoh Chalobah backing him up. Then Gusto can come in and, in theory at least, provide proper competition and rotation.