£35m Chelsea player was going to be in the squad to face Aston Villa until developments this week

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Reports have claimed that Benoit Badiashile had a real chance of being named in the Chelsea squad to face Aston Villa this weekend.

According to Football London, the Frenchman was set to be fit enough to potentially make his return at Stamford Bridge before a setback this week.

Badiashile has been missing since late last season when he suffered an injury in training whilst Frank Lampard was in charge.

This cut short what was turning in to a decent first season in English football for the Frenchman since he made his £35m move back in January.

After not being in the side for some time, he soon broke through to become near enough undroppable in the latter stages of the campaign.

This perhaps explains why there is plenty of excitement over his return, with him being pictured back in first team training alongside his teammates.

However, this excitement was put on hold when it was claimed this week that he had suffered a setback in his recovery that was going to further push back the date that he could return to action.

That very date could well have been sooner than expected, with it now being claimed that he was in line to be in Mauricio Pochettino’s squad for Sunday.

It is now unknown when Badiashile will be able to return to action, with him likely to be battling Levi Colwill for a role in the side.

The Englishman has been shoehorned into a left-back role for the majority of this campaign, however it feels like a matter of time before he is given an opportunity in the middle.