Chelsea have been given a further hint at the possible severity of Josh Acheampong’s injury.

Acheampong missed Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at Sunderland in the Premier League, where Enzo Le Fee’s penalty was enough to move the Black Cats off the foot of the table.

And now he has withdrawn from the England Under-21s squad and returned to Chelsea, meaning he will play no part in England U21s' upcoming fixtures against Portugal and France in the coming week.

A statement reads: “Josh Acheampong and James Beadle have withdrawn from the England men's under-21 squad ahead of their upcoming fixtures against Portugal and France.

“Lee Carsley's side are scheduled to face both nations at Ashton Gate in Bristol during the November international window.

“Acheampong has withdrawn from the squad having been absent for Chelsea’s trip to Sunderland whilst Beadle was substituted during half time of Birmingham City's victory over Lincoln City and subsequently missed Blues’ next two fixtures.

“Both players are now unavailable for the Young Lions' double-header.”

Josh Acheampong is now a doubt for Chelsea’s first game after the international break

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Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso was asked ahead of the Sunderland game why Acheampong was absent from the matchday squad.

He replied: “He is recovering from a minor thing. He missed the fitness to be ready for today but we are expecting that he will be back after the international break. It’s a pity because he was in a good moment.

“There are situations. Yesterday Josh felt something and he was not fit to play. So we are shorter in options and we need to go through this time.

“Even when we win, or when we lose, we miss some players that we have injured and for sure we are waiting to have them back because they are important.

“Now we need to use the time to recover them, but with the players we have, we have to get ready for the next one.”