England defender Ben Chilwell has claimed that Chelsea teammate Reece James helped him a lot during his recovery from injury.
The 26-year-old told the Evening Standard that his fellow stricken star was crucial to keeping his mindset on track as they both missed out on representing their country at the World Cup.
The duo both suffered big injuries not too long after coming back from what had already been extended layoffs at early stages of their career.
This will no doubt have caused great pain, and the timing coming just weeks before the World Cup in Qatar will have made it that much worse.
Chilwell has claimed that the duo needed to help each other during this time in order for them to make their triumphant returns at Stamford Bridge.
Chilwell praises James during injury recovery
He said: “Weirdly, it was nice that we had each other during that time as it was someone you could share the pain of missing a World Cup with. We were at a training camp in Abu Dhabi with Chelsea for the knockout games. I was cheering the team on. We watched it as a team really.
“We put it up in the hotel and sat down after dinner to watch the games every night. Of course, when you have a lot of different nationalities and players supporting different teams.
“All the banter was in light-hearted nature. It was nice to watch the games together. Me and Reece helped each other and we are both stronger and playing well with our clubs at the moment.”
Both flying wing-backs have returned with a vengeance so far, and have immediately impressed particularly in the big Champions League victory over Borussia Dortmund.
Picking up both assists that day, Chilwell’s attacking impotence in comparison to Marc Cucurella has brought a completely new avenue to the side going forwards.
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