Graham Potter insists he will stick to helping N’Golo Kante find fitness despite the Chelsea midfielder’s contract situation.
The 31-year-old's Chelsea deal expires at the end of the campaign, with a host of top European clubs like Barcelona eyeing a possible free-transfer move.
Kante might not be back in action for Chelsea until March after hamstring surgery, by which time the World Cup winner’s long-term future may already be resolved.
Potter continues to remain unfazed by that uncertainty however, vowing to put all his energies into helping the accomplished midfielder beat his latest hamstring problem.
“N’Golo’s still on the same course in terms of his recovery, because it was a surgery,” said Potter. “So it will be February, maybe March that he’s back.
“My focus is just to get him back fit as soon as possible. Everyone knows his quality, it’s just getting back on the pitch playing football.”
Chelsea will restart their Premier League campaign by hosting Bournemouth on Boxing Day, with boss Potter determined that the Blues will climb the table from eighth place.
Potter insisted Chelsea used the World Cup break to what advantage they could, but the truncated campaign will doubtless now throw up anomalies for all teams.
“We had four players in our first few sessions,” said Potter. “So, unless we were playing Bournemouth at five-a-side that wouldn’t have been so important at that point.
“We've used the time as best as we can. First few days we had four players to work with.
“We've used the young players, built the ideas and consolidated the learning in that intense period. We had a week away together, and that helps too.”
