Ruben Loftus-Cheek insists his Chelsea team-mates feel safe in returning to training, stating that the players' opinions have been noted.
Top-flight clubs began training in small groups this week after a unanimous vote in a shareholders' meeting on Monday, and Chelsea players were back at their Cobham base on Wednesday.
N'Golo Kante was granted compassionate leave by Chelsea on Wednesday due to the Frenchman's safety concerns regarding football's resumption amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The midfielder was at the training ground on Tuesday but reportedly did not feel safe to return the following day; it remains unclear as to when the 29-year-old will return.
Loftus-Cheek insists he is excited to return to training, believing the prevalent protocols in the first phase of a return to be sufficiently safe.
"I’m really excited to be back and just to see a few of the boys - at a safe distance obviously - but just to have that social contact with some of the boys that you’re used to seeing every day and you haven’t seen for two months,’ Loftus-Cheek told the official Chelsea website.
"It’s good to see and talk to them at a safe distance, and then start the work for what could be restarting the season. This is the first stage of it and it needs to be safe but I feel like the routine they’ve shown us is safe so for us it’s good to go at the moment."
The 24-year-old midfielder - who was approaching a return to fitness prior to the Premier League's suspension after a lengthy injury lay-off - also says the Chelsea players have been fully included in the conversations regarding a resumption of training.
"We’ve been involved in the conversations and our opinions have been noted," he added. "What they’ve proposed to us with this first phase, everyone feels it’s safe to do and I think it’s very important to take it step by step with these things because of what’s going on in the world.
"You have to do things properly but we feel like this phase one has been done properly so everyone is looking forward to get going."
