They might not have got the win, but Sunday evening’s game against Arsenal was a success for Chelsea.
Enzo Maresca’s side utterly outplayed the Premier League leaders in the first half, and despite losing Moises Caicedo for over half the match, came away with a point.
There were sensational performances across the pitch from the hosts, with the most impressive undoubtedly being Reece James’.
The club captain has been unreal all season for Chelsea, and now it looks like Cobham could already be brewing his heir.
James' performance against Arsenal
Now, James putting in a strong performance for Chelsea is really nothing new; he is the captain after all.
However, against Arsenal, the Englishman truly stepped it up to a whole other level and did so from the middle of the park, not right-back.
In a game that was billed as a midfield showdown between Caicedo and Declan Rice, it was the full-back who came out as comfortably the best player on the whole pitch, let alone the middle of it.
That might sound hyperbolic, but his man-of-the-match award would suggest otherwise.
On top of doing all the defensive work you would expect of him, the “gargantuan” presence, as dubbed by presenter Olivia Buzaglo, was a serious attacking threat and provided the assist for his side’s opener.
Moreover, he completed three of his four crosses, played two key passes, was successful in 100% of his dribbles and generally didn’t let up for the entire encounter.
In all, it was perhaps one of James’ best performances in a Chelsea shirt and a shining example of why so many people rate him so highly.
Therefore, fans should be ecstatic about the fact that Cobham may already be producing another version of the international monster.
Chelsea's next James
When it comes to producing top-quality Premier League talent, few academies can match Chelsea’s Cobham.
In The Pipeline
Football FanCast’s In the Pipeline series aims to uncover the very best youth players in world football.
As always seems to be the case, there is another cohort of incredible youngsters coming up at the moment, like Reggie Watson and Shim Mhueka.
However, there is another, perhaps slightly lesser-known prospect fans should start taking more notice of, someone who could be the next James: Lewi Richards.
The 17-year-old has been with the Blues since the under-8s level and became a scholar at the start of the season.
However, the youngster has made such an impression this year that he put pen to paper on his first professional paper just a couple of months later, at the end of October.
With that said, what makes him like James?
Well, the first thing is that, like the club captain, he has shown an impressive level of positional versatility, playing at right-back, left-back and centre-back for the u18 and u21 sides.
Right-Back
9
3
0
Centre-Back
5
0
1
Left-Back
2
0
0
Moreover, he even spent time playing in the middle of the park when he was playing for the lower levels of the academy.
On top of this ability to be deployed all over the pitch, the teen phenom has already shown an ability to marry technical quality with physicality.
For example, respected analyst-turned-Como scout Felix Johnston has described him as a “technically strong” prospect who is “monstrous in the tackle” as well as “fearless in the air” and blessed with “bags of pace.”
Ultimately, Richards still has plenty of development to do, but he looks to be an extraordinary academy prospect and one whose versatility, technical ability, and power mean he could be another James in a few years.
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