Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana has seemingly insisted that he is not due to spend another lengthy period on the sidelines.
Fofana, who joined Chelsea for £70m in the summer, has not played a competitive game since the start of October due to a knee injury.
That ultimately resulted in the former Leicester City man missing the World Cup with France, but the 22-year-old has been able to remain patient with his recovery during the break in action.
Having returned to training, Fofana featured in a behind-closed-doors friendly with Brentford on Tuesday in a bid to up his match sharpness.
However, reports soon emerged that Fofana had been forced off injured and looked visibly upset, the fear being that he had suffered a similar issue to his knee.
In an Instagram post, teammate Reece James seemingly wished Fofana luck in his recovery from the unspecified problem, saying: "The soul never dies, u gotta love ur life, it's gonna be hard at times. but I promised darkness turns to light, it's gonna be alright. im w you brother."
On the same evening, however, Fofana made a post on the same platform to suggest that he will return at some point in January, it reading: "Nothing bad champion...in not even one month we're back to break everything."
Fofana has made just four appearances since moving to the West Londoners, his two top-flight outings coming in 2-1 wins over West Ham United and Crystal Palace.
Chelsea are yet to comment on the injury, nor has it been acknowledged through official club media that they beat Brentford by a 5-1 scoreline.
Kai Havertz is said to have scored a hat-trick in a match which featured three periods of 45 minutes as the team up their preparations ahead of their return to competitive action.
After their early exit from the EFL Cup, Chelsea do not resume their schedule until they play host to Bournemouth in the Premier League on December 27.
They then begin 2023 with a trip to Nottingham Forest before successive encounters with Manchester City in the top flight and FA Cup respectively.
Chelsea are also in the process of formulating their January transfer plans, a process which will be helped by Christopher Vivell being confirmed as the club's new technical director.
