Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino will likely give a chance to an FPL bargain following Reece James’ latest injury.
Chelsea captain Reece James could spend months on the sidelines through injury, according to reports. The right-back’s absence could hand a regular chance to Fantasy Premier League bargain Malo Gusto
James missed the back end of last season due to a hamstring injury. He returned to full fitness in pre-season and started the Premier League match at home to Liverpool last Sunday.
However, he was substituted with 15 minutes of the game remaining. The game was level at 1-1 at the time to raise question marks over his fitness.
Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino claimed afterwards that James was just tired and there was no reoccurrence of the injury. However, it has since emerged that Chelsea fear the 23-year-old may have suffered another serious hamstring problem.
The Sun says James is awaiting the results of a scan to confirm the severity of the issue. But he could be out for several months if the worst fears are realised.
That would hand a golden opportunity to Gusto, who joined from Lyon in January for a fee of just over £30million before spending the rest of the season at the French club. Gusto replaced James against Liverpool and now could be in line for a regular spot in the side.
FPL fans may be scrambling to transfer him into their squads ahead of Friday’s 6.30pm deadline. Gusto will cost fans a bargain price of £4m.
He is set to be the only fit right-back in the Chelsea squad. Trevoh Chalobah, who can play in that position, is reported to have aggravated his hamstring injury in training on Monday.
The news of James’ absence will be a significant blow to Chelsea and their head coach. Pochettino only appointed James as his new captain earlier this month.
It is the fifth hamstring injury James has suffered since the start of the 2021/22 campaign. He also had knee issues last season which restricted him to just 16 Premier League appearances and forced him to miss the World Cup in Qatar.
Pochettino played down the reason why James was taken off on Sunday. He said: “Because he was tired. You need to see from where he came. The first thing we did when we arrived was to assess and analyse all of the players from the past.
He was injured for three or four months. This pre-season was tough for him, we didn’t want to take any risk and that is why at 80 minutes, we wanted to avoid the risk.”
Leave a Reply