Jordan Houghton says Kurt Zouma and Diego Costa have been there for him during his injury lay-off.

The 21-year-old midfielder was ruled out for the remainder of the season after sustaining a knee injury while on loan with Doncaster Rovers in February.

"I've been through it before so I know what to expect, but when I first came back to Cobham the likes of Zouma and Diego Costa went out of their way to ask me how everything was going, which was nice," he told chelseafc.com.

"It's a little bit of reassurance to see people who have come through similar and are still playing at the highest level."

Regarding his recovery from the problem, Houghton added: "It's still in the early stages but it's going well.

"I'm off the crutches now and doing some work in the pool so it's just a case of gradually building it up and then we can start outdoors in a few months. If everything is going smoothly, which it is at the moment, I'm hoping to be back training around July or August, but I can't rush it, I need to make sure everything is okay.

"I'm still in the early stages of my career and I need to make sure there are no problems long term."