N'Golo Kante has returned to training but is doing so in isolation due to fears over the coronavirus.
The Chelsea star had expressed health concerns and was allowed to train at home.
He has now returned to the club's Cobham-base but is conducting his own running sessions in isolation, reports The Athletic.
The Frenchman, despite being apprehensive about returning, has actually been at the facility for several days.
Phase two of Project Restart was approved earlier this week and that included full contact training.
Kante had originally returned to training alongside his team-mates but quickly voiced concerns over safety and was granted time at home.
Despite steps being taken and testing being done the World Cup winner is not prepared to play once football resumes if there is even the slightest chance of catching coronavirus.
Kante is thought to be happy at how Chelsea have taken on board his concerns and put in the necessary measures.
But the 29-year-old does not know whether every club is taking similar precautions and that is behind his unwillingness to take part in team activities.
Kante though has been backed by Blues goalkeeper Willy Caballero who said: "It’s very understandable. He tested negative for Covid-19 but he had a bad time of it during quarantine with symptoms of the virus that gave him that fear.
"We respect him and we’ll wait until he feels comfortable because the truth is that to do what we’re doing you have to feel okay and feel confidence and after we start again, we have to all go forward together.
"N’Golo is a very humble and hard-working person who is always smiling and and he must have his reasons to lift up his hand and say what he’s said.
"We did a lot of Zoom meetings with Frank Lampard and the other players and he said he didn’t feel safe going back to training because of the way he had felt over the last few weeks.
"We know he’s someone who loves training and running and is incapable of lying about something like this.
"We support him and we respect him.”
