What this Chelsea leader did to inspire injured young player now flying in League One

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the Chelsea News

·25 Februari 2026

What this Chelsea leader did to inspire injured young player now flying in League One

Omari Kellyman has been speaking about his awful injury issues, and he named the Chelsea players who supported him while he was out.

The Athletic have a really nice piece from yesterday where Chelsea attacker Omari Kellyman talks about his injury problems. A number of first team players supported him through his nightmare.

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“I had great support from all of the lads,” Kellyman said.

“Most of the players would check up on me every day. With Reece [James], Romeo [Lavia] and Wes [Fofana]… I also spent a lot of time doing rehab with them.

“Reece checked up on me so much. The injuries he has had are very similar to mine. He is the one I understood the most because a lot of the challenges were similar to what I was going through. The difference is that everyone already knew how good he was, but he still faced the same talk from people about not being able to stay fit.”

James’ return to top form just what Kellyman wanted to see

Omari Kellyman playing for Cardiff. (Photo by Pete Norton/Getty Images)

Of course, apart from nice messages on social media, and supportive chats in the treatment room, the best thing James could do was to get fit himself and play at his best level, to give Kellyman the confidence that he could do the same. That’s just what he did:

“Reece came out the other side and is flying now. He proved you can come back from it. I never doubted I would start playing again, but the doubt in your mind is: ‘Will I be the same?’”

With 6 goals in his last 6 appearances, it looks like Kellyman is on his way back to his best.