James has missed 145 games for club and country since breaking into Chelsea’s first team. At one stage, there was a feeling he might end up becoming one of those players forever discussed as not fulfilling their potential.
Now, roughly halfway through the season, the Chelsea captain’s 26 games across all competitions are more than his total in 2022/23, 2023/24, and one-off last season. A lot of credit needs to go to Enzo Maresca for that.
He may no longer be a traditional marauding right back, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been integral to everything Chelsea are doing. In fact, James is their most important player at the moment.
An impressive positional shift
Being a modern full back is incredibly demanding; it should come as no surprise that we're seeing so many injuries for players in that position. Following James’ knee and hamstring issues, there has clearly been a conversation between him and Maresca about how to move forward.
They seem to agree that playing in central midfield is the future. Injuries to Romeo Lavia and Dario Essugo probably made the decision a little easier, and with Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez not getting much of a break since joining, it was a no-brainer.
James had played as a central midfielder before Maresca took over. During his loan at Wigan, he started in that position before ultimately settling at right-back, but it wasn’t until Maresca came in that it became a more regular occurrence.
At first, the fans weren’t into it. James is the complete right-back, offering a unique attacking threat while also being strong defensively. But a few performances this season appear to have won over some hearts and minds.
The first was the 3-0 Champions League win over Barcelona. Alongside Caicedo, he was everywhere, covering 5.6 miles, making eight passes into the final third, and six recoveries. Hansi Flick’s side simply didn’t have an answer for him and couldn’t deal with the physicality he brought.
Chelsea’s very next game was against Arsenal, and it was billed as a meeting of the two best midfielders in the league, but neither Caicedo, who was sent off, nor Declan Rice put in the kind of performance James did. He’s not really a central midfielder, but he was the best one in the game.
The 2-2 draw with Newcastle on Saturday (December 20th) was another example of how important he is. James scored a free kick and was then making a last-ditch tackle to deny Harvey Barnes from scoring.
What are Reece James’ numbers looking like?
‘Complete’ might be the word of the day, looking at his numbers. He contributes massively in every single aspect of Chelsea’s play, and is showing a level of consistency that few, if any, of his teammates can match.
Defensively, he’s completed 26 tackles, won 74 duels, 25 aerial duels, made 56 recoveries and has only been dribbled past seven times. You know those viral videos where people ask attackers about their hardest opponents? There is a reason so many pick James.
At the other end of the pitch, again, he’s one of Chelsea’s most useful attacking assets. His two goals and three assists are the most tangible stats, making him Chelsea’s joint third-most productive player in front of goal.
Looking at his underlying numbers in possession, he’s a high-volume passer and chance creator. With 665 completed passes and 40 accurate long balls, he’s managed to create 16 chances and put in 14 successful crosses.
What is Enzo Maresca saying?
Speaking at the end of last season, following Chelsea’s Europa Conference League win over Copenhagen, Maresca admitted that his plan was always to move James into the midfield.
Maresca told reporters: "So, you can ask Reece; when I signed with Chelsea, probably the day after, I sent him a video about seeing him as a midfielder. I see Reece as a midfielder, not now - since day one, before I met him for the first time, he was on holiday. I sent him a clip about him playing as a midfielder.
"I mentioned Reece playing as a midfielder a long time ago. He is playing there now but the good thing is he played this year already as a full-back, as a centre-back and in the central midfielder. The main target for us is to help him be fit all season."
Verdict
There isn’t anyone in the Premier League who offers what a fit James offers Chelsea. Not only is he arguably their most important player on the pitch, but he’s also very clearly growing into the leader a captain should be off it too. Long may it continue.