Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor has provided a positive update on Sam Kerr’s recovery from an ACL injury, hinting she could be back in team training by the end of the calendar year.

Kerr, 31, has been sidelined since January when she suffered a knee injury while away on a warm weather training camp in Morocco. She missed the second half of the 2023/24 campaign, as Chelsea bid farewell to former manager Emma Hayes with a fifth consecutive WSL title, while she has also been absent for the first two months of the 2024/25 campaign.

Speaking ahead of Chelsea’s Champions League home clash against Celtic this week night, Bompastor said: “Sam is doing really well and she’s [back] on the pitch, but not participating with the team yet.

“Certainly, by the end of the year she will be back with the team. It’s difficult for me to give a timeline or an exact date for her to come back [to a matchday squad], but she is in a good place, she is confident and is progressing day by day.”

Mia Fishel, who signed from Mexican side Tigres in the summer of 2023, tore her ACL a month after Kerr. The USA international suffered the injury while away with her national side back in February.

“She was a little bit later,” Bompastor continued, when asked about Fishel’s recovery.

“She is also progressing really well. I think we can expect to have Sam and Mia [back] around the same time, so we will see. With this kind of injury it’s always really individual and the players progress day by day. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes the steps are smaller.”

In a final significant update, Bompastor revealed Lauren James could return after the November international break. The 23-year-old wasn’t named in Sarina Wiegman’s England squad for their upcoming games against the United States and Switzerland, but it appears she isn’t too far away.

“Lauren is still recovering from a calf injury,” the Chelsea boss concluded. “She is good with the timing and she’s had good feedback from the medical staff, maybe we will see her after the international break.”

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