Reece James sends seven-word Chelsea message as injury worry emerges for Mauricio Pochettino

Reece James has sent a message to fans ahead of pre-season as the Chelsea star returns from scans on his knee following an early injury scare.

football.london understands that the 23-year-old has had precautionary tests on his knee after feeling pain there during the first week of training back at Cobham.

James was part of the first returning group to the Surrey training centre as work begins ahead of Mauricio Pochettino's first season in charge and the upcoming tour of America. He is also expected to be part of the travelling cohort that leaves for USA next week.

The scans are only out of precaution given his recent record with injury. James missed half of the matches last season including the final seven under Frank Lampard. He didn't play after the Champions League quarter-final defeat to Real Madrid, operating at well below full capacity in the second leg.

He has also missed long periods in the past two years including at stages from October to the World Cup, a tournament he had to pull out of, and also a spell post-January too. It continues a worrying trend for James, who was also ruled out for large portions of the 2021/22 campaign with knee and hamstring issues.

Now, as he enters the 2023/24 season as one of Chelsea's most important players and a candidate to become the club's new captain, they are being extremely careful when it comes to ramping up the workload for him. There is currently thought to be too much worry that the result will be anything other than positive but ahead of a long trip to America, it was a case of safety first.

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Whilst James readies himself for a big campaign to come, he has taken to Instagram to