Chelsea fans have been left staggered by a Reece James image that has surfaced on social media.
The 22-year-old scored in the 2-2 draw against Tottenham at the weekend, thinking he'd managed to finish the winner, putting Thomas Tuchel's side 2-1 up. It capped a brilliant all-around match from the English right-back. He had the second most touches on the field, nobody made more than his 74 passes which were completed at a match-high 91.9% for outfield players to start the game, and he was in a new role.
As a key part of Tuchel's tactical undoing of Antonio Conte, James was deployed in a mixture of positions. When his side had the ball, he was an expansive right back, often coming inside to play as a narrow right-sided midfielder to devastating effect. When Chelsea lost the ball, he slotted into right centre-back, though his aggressive positioning pushed him to follow Son Heung-Min for large parts. He then moved to a standard right-back position when Chelsea moved to an orthodox four-man defence for the final 20 minutes.
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James' versatility isn't a new trait. He has long been moved around for Tuchel into a more natural and disciplined midfield role, a place he may well occupy as he continues to develop, much like Pep Guardiola's movement of Bayern Munich legend Phillip Lahm.
The German full-back-come-midfielder was the fulcrum of Guardiola's successful Bayern side in the mid-2010s, and he said of Lahm on his retirement in 2017: "He is one of the most fantastic players I ever trained in my life and one of the most intelligent. Football is going to miss one of the best players ever. He can play in 10 positions, no problems because he understands the game perfectly."
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James is only 22, but he is putting the work in early in his career to be compared loosely to some of the game's best defenders, such is his style. In a remarkable set of statistics on fbref, which made its way onto Twitter, James ranks within the top one per cent of full-backs at non-penalty goals and total shots, whilst he is in the top five per cent for non-penalty xG, assists, xA, shot-creating actions, non-penaltyxG+xA.
For his other contributions, James is in the top 10% for: passes, passes completed, progressive passes, progressive carries, dribbles completed, touches and progressive passes received over the past year.
His unique set of characteristics helped him to five goals and nine assists in his 22 starts last season, giving him 0.68 goal contributions per 90 last year. Trent Alexander-Arnold was the next highest defender on the list with 0.44. James has started the season well for Chelsea, producing one of the crosses of the season already with a stunning ball for Kai Havertz against Tottenham.
Now, with Chelsea looking at Frenkie de Jong as an extra midfield option, there is a surprising outcome when comparing him in the same stats as James. Out of the same 14 statistical comparatives, De Jong only had higher totals in three areas. Although this is a comparison between positions, James has shown that he has the skills to move his trade from wingback and full-back into midfield, which could save Chelsea £70m.
The Cobham graduate scored double the amount of goals and recorded three times more assists than De Jong did last year in fewer matches and minutes. When Lahm was 24, the same age as De Jong at the start of the season, and mainly playing as a full-back, he only had one assist and no non-penalty goals. When the German later moved into midfield, his assists did go up, getting four in his first season under Guardiola.
However, James is already just four goals behind Lahm's total goal-scoring output. Not that that was what the German was known for, but considering their similar playstyle, James having an additional trick up his sleeve is only more impressive.
When it comes to passing, looking at De Jong and James, the Chelsea player made more short passes at a marginally better completion rate. He also made up more progressive yards than the Barcelona midfielder despite making fewer total passes - though James did play nearly 500 minutes less than him.
Again, passing isn't necessarily a statistic that will transfer completely into being a good midfielder. The situations in which a full-back or wing-back passes will be very different to that of a midfielder, but the groundwork is there.
Interestingly, from a wide area and without overlapping players, James played less through balls than De Jong did, something that fans want to see more of as Chelsea play a more expansive style of football with new attackers. James also made fewer passes under pressure as De Jong excelled in tight areas, also playing more switches.
The pair were similar in their defensive actions, with comparable numbers of tackles being made, though De Jong had three times more tackles in the opposition third than James, which could be something that Tuchel wants in a high-pressing team. As an expert one-on-one defender, James did have a better tackle percentage, but once again, De Jong scored better for pressures with his high-starting position when in midfield. How this would translate into a double-pivot under Tuchel isn't clear. The German has previously allowed Kante space to roam off the ball, but that is a unique set of skills that neither James nor De Jong are immediately suited to.
De Jong also had an impressive number of interceptions, but his in-possession stats paled to James'. Whereas James' touches were significantly down in the middle third of the pitch, he almost doubled De Jong's total in the final third, indicating his comfort when attacking and his involvement, which can come both inside the pitch and as an overlap. For De Jong's dribbling characteristics, James also fared better on paper, completing more dribbles at a higher percentage, though De Jong can boast a much more impressive tally of progressive yards (4793 Vs 2899) in a similar number of carries.
Unfortunately, the data for Lahm's passing and defensive actions aren't available.
As is the case with comparisons, it's hard to decipher. James has his own set of skills which are different to De Jong's, and James isn't even considered as a midfielder yet, but given the price tag on De Jong, if Chelsea were to put some more minutes into his legs in the centre of the park then he has the foundation to become a player that is used there more often, just like Lahm, and the plans are in place at Stamford Bridge.
According to the Daily Mail, Todd Boehly is looking to tie James down to a six-year deal with a further option of a seventh, alongside Mason Mount, in a move to reward Chelsea's best-performing stars. If this is to be the case, then there is a chance that James could push himself alongside some of the all-time greats of the game. Though it is too soon to truly put him anywhere near that bracket, and domestic success would need to follow James' Champions League triumph, his underlying abilities are currently some of the best for any player in the world for any position.
As a striker during his youth, when he used to play across the pitch as coached by his dad, he has continued the goal-scoring aspect of his game. It's something that he admitted he relishes. Speaking to the Chelsea website, James said, "I love scoring, and I was in the right position. Actually, I saw him [Hugo Lloris] go down, and I waited a bit, I wasn't sure what to do, but luckily I scored. He went down very early, I think he tried to anticipate, and I took my chance.
"It's always great to see new players helping out the team. It's great to see them all on the pitch and taking their chance and contributing and wanting to win."
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