Enzo Maresca handed huge Chelsea injury update after Levi Colwill news

Benoit Badiashile is due to return to action at the beginning of September, football.london understands, as he continues his recovery from injury.

The 24-year-old defender limped off in Chelsea's FIFA Club World Cup last 16 win against Benfica in Charlotte on around 70 minutes. Badiashile was later spotted leaving the Bank of America Stadium on crutches - sparking fears he could be set for a spell out of action.

Badiashile has since been undergoing rehabilitation work as he looks to get back to full fitness. The Frenchman was among those to return to the club's training base in Cobham earlier this week and has been doing individual work away from the rest of the squad, who are preparing for Friday evening's pre-season friendly against Bayer Leverkusen.

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football.london understands Badiashile is targeting early September as a timeframe to return to action. The former AS Monaco defender, who made just 22 appearances in all competitions for the Blues last season, is ahead of schedule at the moment in his recovery.

This news becomes particularly prominent after Enzo Maresca revealed the club are sweating over the injury Levi Colwill suffered this week. On the players' return to training on Monday, the England international hurt himself late in the first session and Chelsea are now awaiting scan results to discover the extent of the problem.

"We had a problem the last two days with Levi Colwill, that we don't know how long he is going to be out," Maresca said on Thursday morning. "We need to wait, we don't know yet.

"It was in the first session on Monday, just in the last minutes of the session. He felt something and, as I said, we need to wait and then we see."

Maresca continued: "It depends. We need to wait and then we see. But, as I said, we know each other from last year and, you know in our way, how important Levi has been.

"I spoke with him yesterday and I told him that if we achieve what we achieved last year, it is also because of him - and he was a main player for us."

New signing Jorrel Hato can cover as a left-sided centre-back but there is a feeling he was brought to the club to mainly support Marc Cucurella. Wesley Fofana is training but he is not yet at full fitness, while Trevoh Chalobah and Tosin Adarabioyo have mainly been used on the right-hand side under Maresca.