Chelsea star Wesley Fofana has hinted his injury progress is heading in the right direction amid the international break. The France defender did not travel on Chelsea's pre-season tour of the United States as he received an assessment from a specialist and instead underwent anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery.

Fofana is still in the rehabilitation stage of his recovery and is still expected to be out for a lengthy period having not yet been able to feature for the Blues under Mauricio Pochettino. The 22-year-old has hinted that he has returned to running for the first time however.

The former Leicester City star posted to his Instagram Story an image of feet, wearing football boost and with the phrase 'After [a] long time' and a running emoji alongside a football emoji. Fofana added the phrase: "Alhamdulillah" too.

Much of Fofana's Chelsea career has been blighted with injury as he picked up a knee injury shortly after his move to Stamford Bridge, in addition to breaking his leg at the start of the 2021/22 season while still at Leicester.

The defender has intermittently updated the world of his progress via social media. Earlier this season he posted a picture of himself in the gym with the phrase 'soon' and even this month he displayed an image of himself working out at Cobham. Fofana has even been a regular presence at Stamford Bridge, consistently sitting behind the dugout to take in Chelsea matches.

In the immediate aftermath of the news of Fofana's surgery, Pochettino noted he was hopeful that his defender would return before the end of the 2023/24 season.

READ MORE: Thierry Henry outlines £221.7m Chelsea transfer philosophy flaw and makes Ugochukwu hint

READ MORE: Nkunku recovers and Badiashile returns in dream Chelsea behind-closed-doors friendly XI

He said: "I hope yes. You know very well because you have all of the information that this is difficult. The problem after is that it's a different situation. He is evolving in a different way but hopefully, everything went well his recovery goes very well and as soon as possible he can be back."