Willy Caballero has insisted the whole Chelsea squad understands and respects N'Golo Kante's decision not to return to training.
The Frenchman has agreed with Frank Lampard to stay away from training amid health concerns, which could rule him out for the rest of the season.
Kante has suffered with health problems in the past, collapsing in the club's Cobham dressing room two years ago and lost his brother to his heart attack just weeks before France's World Cup win in 2018.
With that in mind, Caballero has insisted that Kante is well within his rights to be wary of returning to training and insists all his Chelsea teammates are behind him.
"It's very understandable," the 38-year-old told TNT Sports in an Instagram Live interview.
"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 he must have his reasons to lift up his hand and say what he's said."
Kante tested negative for coronavirus last week but he has safety concerns during the ongoing pandemic and with the full support of manager Lampard will continue to train at home as preparations gather pace for the return of the Premier League.
Caballero continued: "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."
