Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca revealed that he saw Reece James’ best position as “since the first day”.
James has to struggle in every position under Maresca this season. Too familiar injury issues have restricted the engagement of the club captain, but when he was available, the English international has most frequently played in one of the full-backs of Chelsea for the team.
In each of James’s last two appearances, however, Maresca founded his creative outlet in midfield. While this position switch led to a defeat against Aston Villa at the end of the last month, James returned to a central role for Chelsea’s trip to Copenhagen on Thursday evening in the Europa Conference League. The Blues Skipper achieved the opening goal in a 2-1 win.
“At that moment we use him as a midfielder and he is doing very well,” said Maresca after the triumphant’s first leg of her European last 16 tie. “When I signed at Chelsea, probably the day after, I sent him a video about seeing him as a midfielder.
“When you watch a player, you sometimes have to use imagination and imagine that a player does something. I always imagined [in 2018-19] Where he scored a fantastic goal of 25 or 30 meters as a midfielder. “
Maresca was not always so full of praise for his captain. Already in October, the Chelsea boss publicly called “more” from James in relation to his actions from the field. According to the Italian trainer, his warning was observed. “But the best thing about Reece is at the moment that he will help the team to lead, and he has grown a lot since I mentioned that we needed him, and that is important,” remarked Maresca.
James would not be drawn from his new role or being involved in an encouraging fitness run – the defender was available for 11 of the last 12 games from Chelsea. “It is always good to score and help the team, and luckily we have the victory,” said the 25-year-old. “We know that it is another huge game [next week]We have to win and want to drive and win this competition. “
Maresca has not enjoyed the best form at Chelsea in the past few weeks and has only monitored two victories from her last ten Premier League games and a sounding FA Cup exit against Brighton. After the first away win of the club since mid -December, the former head of Leicester City wanted to concentrate on the positive performance of James’ performance.
“We know how important it is for us,” concluded Maresca. “He is our captain, a fantastic player. We need him fit, so this is our duty, our goal, because he will definitely help us. He can play in many positions because the good players can play in many positions.”