Chelsea step up £8m Josip Juranovic chase after Reece James injury news

Chelsea will step up their hunt for Celtic's Josip Juranovic with Reece James ruled out until February. The Croatian right-back has long been on Stamford Bridge's radar even before his impressive World Cup performance and could be brought south of the border for as little as £8million.

The 27-year-old is under contract until 2026 but cost the Scottish club just £2.5m when he joined them 18 months ago. It makes sense that Chelsea would try to bring him in at the start of the January window, with James suffering a setback with his knee injury on Tuesday.

Celtic have already signed Alistair Johnston from CF Montreal as a replacement. Chelsea's new owners are determined to make the most of only their second transfer window of their tenure with some very significant long-term recruitment.

The 19-year-old Vasco da Gama midfielder is set to sign a five-year deal in a £20million deal, while Ivory Coast striker David Datro Fofana from Molde is close to signing. a similar transfer of £8.6m. Both players would return to their current clubs for the rest of the season as part of the moves.

James received a timely injury boost just hours after describing 2022 as "the toughest year yet". Fears that further damage to the knee he injured in October could rule him out for much of the rest of the season proved unfounded once the test results were assessed.

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A statement released by Chelsea the afternoon after the game read: "Defender Reece James underwent an assessment earlier in the day after being substituted in the second half of Premier League's 2-0 win League last night against AFC Bournemouth due to a knee injury.

"The results of the analysis have unfortunately confirmed a setback for the 23-year-old, with Reece now set to be ruled out for up to a month." The negativity of the club's wording reflects the criticism they had received in the meantime over the decision to play James in the first place.

James himself certainly looked rock bottom with what happened after the initial injury picked up against AC Milan in a 2-0 win in October ruled him out of the entire World Cup in Qatar. "2022 has been the toughest year yet," he posted on Instagram before medicals were assessed.

"I just wanted to thank you all for your support this year, none of this has gone unnoticed. It has naturally affected me mentally, but life is about dealing with the hand that was dealt to you and that is what I'm trying to do right now.

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“I hope your end of the year is filled with peace, joy and happiness. I love you all, see you next year. His personal trainer James Ralph - who has worked with James and Fikayo Tomori and Ruben Loftus-Cheek for about 18 months - was also furious at first.

After the game, manager Graham Potter explained that they had only hoped to get 60 minutes of action under James' belt as part of his recovery program, only for disaster to strike with a seemingly assist harmless a few minutes earlier. However, Ralph used his own company's own Instagram...