National Daily learnt from the claim by French newspaper L’Equipe, that Kante now aims to make a return to action by the end of February and is upping his training.

The France World Cup winner has been training individually at Cobham since last week but National Daily can confirm that he could soon resume ball work before being reintegrated back into the first-team squad as can be confirmed .

Manager Graham Potter had previously said that Kante might not return until early March but the experienced midfielder’s recovery appears to be slightly ahead of schedule.

Kante is closing in on return with his recovery appearing to be slightly ahead of schedule

Chelsea have five matches in February finishing with an away trip to Tottenham on the 26th, though that might come a tad too soon for Kante to be involved.

A more likely return date is a home game against Leeds United a week later, followed by the return leg of Chelsea’s Champions League last-16 clash with Borussia Dortmund a few days later.

Speaking back in December, Potter said of Kante: ‘He will be a while, end of Feb, start of March. It was a surgery, so it is a minimum period of four months pretty much.

‘I think my focus is to help him get back fit as soon as possible, everyone knows the quality he has.

‘That is not in question, but it is about helping him get fit and back on the pitch, and looking forward to seeing him back playing football as we haven’t seen him.’

Kante is out of contract in the summer and can now speak to foreign clubs about a pre-contract agreement, though Chelsea are optimistic they can convince him to sign an extension.