Chelsea confirm Reece James will miss England's World Cup campaign in Qatar after suffering knee injury

Chelsea right-back Reece James will miss England's World Cup campaign after suffering a knee injury in the Blues' midweek Champions League win over AC Milan. James, capped 15 times since making his England debut in 2020, has been a key part of England boss Gareth Southgate's team over that period.

His absence in Qatar puts further strain on a system already undermined by the injuries of Kyle Walker and Trent Alexander-Arnold. Ad According to the Telegraph, James is hoping to avoid surgery on the injury, but Chelsea confirm that he will miss around eight weeks while he recovers.

World CupKante expected to miss World Cup after latest injury setbackYESTERDAY AT 17:16 Chelsea seemingly confirmed this report in their statement, saying «Reece will now undergo a rehabilitation programme and is expected to be out for eight weeks.» The possibility of taking an unfit James as part of England's squad, with an eye on the latter stages of the tournament, had been mooted but Chelsea's announcement on Saturday evening seemingly rules out even that option. Chelsea boss Graham Potter had been optimistic ahead of the weekend.

He told the press: «It would just be speculation from my side so we’ll wait and see. He felt not too bad yesterday but until you get these things checked you never know.» James joins N'golo Kante and Wesley Fofana on Chelsea's injury list.