Ruben Loftus-Cheek has stepped up his bid to return from injury as soon as possible.
The Chelsea midfielder is yet to feature under Frank Lampard this season and that's down to sustaining an Achilles injury during an end of season friendly prior to the Europa League final against Arsenal back in May.
That setback likely denied Loftus-Cheek a starting berth in Baku, but he had to watch on from the sidelines as his teammates comfortably dispatched the Gunners 4-1.
Since then it's been all about recovery for the Blues wonderkid.
In an interview with Versus earlier in the season he felt he was close to making a return, only for head coach Frank Lampard to immediately pour cold water over such hopes.
A return to action before the end of the year is highly unlikely, but there's a good chance that Loftus-Cheek will play some part for the west London outfit during the second half of the season.
This is because he appears to be making good progress in his rehabilitation.
Taking to social media to provide an update on his recovery, the midfielder posted four different clips on his Instagram stories of him running outside at the club's training base in Cobham.
He also did some work with the ball and didn't seem to be affected by the Achilles problem.
This is a great news for the Blues ahead of their London derby against Tottenham Hotspur this weekend.
Although, Loftus-Cheek will not be involved.
And it remains to be seen when the midfielder is considered fit enough for a return to action as Lampard didn't sound too positive when delivering an update ahead of the game against Bournemouth.
"I don’t know, I don’t know," Lampard replied during his pre-match press conference when asked how long Loftus-Cheek will be out for.
"Probably more than weeks."
So it could be a while before Blues fans get to see the 23-year-old in action again, but the fact he's back running outside can only be a positive.
