Chelsea great, Joe Cole has shared his own opinion on the reason Reece James has been suffering too many injuries at the club in the last two or three years.

James is currently out of the Chelsea squad after picking up a second hamstring injury.

The 24-year-old has already undergone surgery, and is in recovery, but he isn’t expected back in the team until March.

Cole was a guest on fellow Chelsea great, John Mikel Obi’s Obi One podcast recently, and at some point, they spoke about James’ injury troubles, which led to the former England international sharing some advice on how to keep fit with the Chelsea captain.

“You need to take your time with him. I love him, he’s a great player, a great lad,” Cole said.

“But it looks like he’s doing too much gym, he’s top-heavy, and when he goes onto the pitch he’s trying so hard because he’s trying to do so well for the club.

“I think we need to use him sparingly and build him up to make him robust enough to play regularly.”

Cole added: “Just get yourself on the pitch, once the game’s won after 60 minutes, come off, sit down relax.

“We’re playing Preston in the FA Cup, go and have a day, don’t go in the gym.

“I think, a lot of these young players overtrain at Chelsea. That’s just my opinion, maybe I’m wrong because I don’t have all the information. But from what I see from the outside, there’s far too many injuries, and it usually means that they’re doing too much in the gym.”