Willy Caballero reveals N’Golo Kante has the Chelsea squad’s full support in his continued absence from training.
The France midfielder was given permission to miss training last Wednesday due to fears over COVID-19.
There are fears Kante could be absent for the rest of the season
Kante took part in a group session at Chelseas training ground on Tuesday as players returned under strict social distancing rules – but then informed boss Frank Lampard of his health concerns and was granted compassionate leave.
The 29-year-olds older brother, Niama, died of a heart attack shortly before the 2018 World Cup and the midfielder lost his father when he was just 11 years old.
A few months before his brother passed away, Kante even fainted himself in training.
And Blues goalkeeper Caballero reveals that while the Frenchman tested negative for COVID-19, Kante suffered ‘bad symptoms’ over the past weeks.
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The 38-year-old told TNT Sports on Instagram Live: Its very understandable.
He tested negative for COVID-19 but he had a bad time of it during quarantine with symptoms of the virus that gave him that fear.
We respect him and well wait until he feels comfortable because the truth is that to do what were doing you have to feel okay and feel confidence and after we start again, we have to all go forward together.
NGolo is a very humble and hard-working person who is always smiling and and he must have his reasons to lift up his hand and say what hes said.
Willy Caballero has competed with Kepa Arrizabalaga for the no.1 spot under Frank Lampard
We did a lot of Zoom meetings with Frank Lampard and the other players and he said he didnt feel safe going back to training because of the way he had felt over the last few weeks.
“We know hes someone who loves training and running and is incapable of lying about something like this.
“We support him and we respect him.
Despite reservations from the likes of Kante and Watford captain Troy Deeney, who is also staying away from training, the Premier League is expected to move forward with ‘Project Restart’ and give the green light for limited contact training this week.
Troy Deeney is incredibly skeptical about the Premier League’s Project Restart
June 19 is still seen as the most likely date for the resumption of fixtures after the latest round of testing returned two positve results.
Bournemouth goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale revealed he was one of the players who tested positive, although he still backs a return to action when it’s safe.
He told The Sun: I still stand by what I said, that when its definitely safe, Id be all for it.
Seeing how our staff and our training ground is working at the moment, it does give you a feeling that everything is being taken to the smallest detail to be done properly. In that sense, you do feel very safe in training.