N’Golo Kante has been a key player for Chelsea ever since he joined the club from Leicester City but the player is really having a troubled summer.
The midfielder has mostly been fit during the past season but he did miss some games in May due to a combination of hamstring and knee injuries.
And it looks like these injuries are just refusing to go away.
Up until now, N’Golo Kante has not featured for Frank Lampard’s Chelsea during their pre-season games and now the club have reported that he has returned back to England.
The Blues were in Japan for their pre-season tour and when Kante had picked up a new injury following which the club confirmed that he would be returning back the London.
A Chelsea statement read(as reported): ‘N’Golo Kante has travelled back to the UK to continue his rehabilitation for an injury connected to the knee problem he sustained at the end of last season.’
N’Golo Kante has travelled back to the UK to continue his rehabilitation for an injury connected to the knee problem he sustained at the end of last season.#CFCinJapan pic.twitter.com/w4MdkhAANU
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) July 21, 2019
Initially, it was reported that the Frenchman is set to be on the sidelines for a couple of weeks which meant he would miss key games vs Man United and then in the Super Cup against Liverpool.
The Blues are currently training at Cobham and the pictures revealed N’Golo Kante jogging up the rest of the Chelsea players.
The Premier League side still have to face the likes of Salzburg and Monchengladbach before the new season begins but we doubt if Frank Lampard would want to risk him during these matches.
So if N’Golo Kante can continue his rehab at a swift pace then he should be in line to face Manchester United in the first game of the 2019-20 season.
UPDATE(29/07/19):
Speaking after the 4-3 win vs Reading during the weekend, Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has said that N’Golo Kante should be fit in time to face Manchester United during the season opener.
“I am hopeful he will be ready,” Lampard said.
“He’s dipped into training with us in the last couple of days. There’s still a lot more he needs to do physically without us. But the signs are good.
“I’ll have to assess next week whether we throw him straight in. He has a natural base of fitness but there’s 50- or 60-odd games to come this season. We have to be slightly careful.”
