Barkley returns to action in Chelsea Under-23 game
[/media-credit]Ross Barkley returned to action on Saturday afternoon when he featured for Chelsea’s development side at Derby.
Barkley played an hour of the game at St George’s Park, where Dutch teenager Daishawn Redan scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 win for the visitors.
Barkley has made just three first-team appearances since his January move to Chelsea from Everton, having not played this season prior to his arrival at Stamford Bridge.
The England international had hamstring surgery last year and has been struggling with more hamstring trouble in recent weeks.
Blues boss Antonio Conte said on Thursday: “He has started to have training sessions. We prefer to have him training with the Under-23s and then to play on Saturday before coming back with us.
“We are talking about a player coming back from a bad injury – seven months without playing.
“We want to have patience with him and be sure before he comes back with the first team.”
