Reece James told he's 'worth £150m' and 'better than Trent Alexander-Arnold' as Chelsea captain looks to overcome injury woes

Since December 2020, James has suffered nine separate hamstring injuries and missed well over 400 days of football, while he also underwent major surgery in late 2023. A talismanic presence for Chelsea when fit, his limited minutes, including just 12 Premier League starts last season, have repeatedly raised concerns over his long-term viability.

Former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin didn’t hold back with his assessment, describing James as "stupidly good" and unmatched when at peak condition. Nevin told football betting siteBetVictor, he said: "If Reece James was fit, he'd be worth £150 million. He's just stupidly good. He is that brilliant. There's nobody like him. And honestly, I put him above Trent Alexander-Arnold. At his best, fully fit, he was unbeatable. His quality going forward was staggering. He looked like a man playing with boys most of the time. But it's back to the injury thing. Had he been fully fit for the last couple of years he would be England’s definite fullback, 100%. I'm not even concerned. England are quite strong in that position, but 100 % it’s him. On top of that, he would be worth fortunes."

However, Nevin stressed that talent alone won’t put James in the frame for a big-money move in the future because fitness must accompany ability. 

"Every club in the world would want him, but Chelsea wouldn't sell him. Why would they? Because they'd be the best of the best," he said. "The problem you've got now is the injuries. Nobody's going to pay that money for him. However good he is, if he's only going to play 10, 15 games and don't just look at last season, you've got to look at the last three or four. You've to look at them all. And it's nothing against him."

Nevin drew a comparison to former Arsenal full-back Kieran Tierney, another player renowned for flashes of brilliance interrupted by injury. He recounted a recent appearance where Tierney starred before being forced off due to a cramp; a reminder that fleeting glimpses of form mean little without continuity.

"I was at Celtic Park the other day there, and Kieran Tierney at his first game back for Celtic. He was brilliant, absolutely light years ahead of everybody else on the pitch. And then he went off injured after 63 minutes," he said.

"And that's it. That's all it is. And with Tierney, I think it's just a bit of a cramp or something and you should be okay. But Tierney, like Reece, fully fit, absolutely everybody wants him. So that's what you've got, Reece, now. Keep him around, well, it's a lot of money to pay to keep somebody around just to get up the team. I'm afraid that doesn't work. You need to be able to produce a product."

With the right-back role physically demanding, Nevin suggested Chelsea consider redeploying James into midfield to lessen the toll, a strategy already applied by Enzo Maresca during the recent Club World Cup. A deeper position, sitting at No. 6 rather than marauding wing-back, could play to his strengths while preserving his body.

"I felt for the last two years, his position is going to be sitting in midfield," he added.

"That's it, because his body doesn't want to do that flying up, flying up, flying up, down, which you have to do the right fullback position, wingback position, and also what he was brewing at.

"So that kind of slightly deeper line, sixth position. Chelsea are so well, well covered in that position. It's unbelievable. But James is as good as any of them. So it may well be that he spends a bit more time there."

Following their Club World Cup triumph in the United States, Chelsea returned to training for a condensed 13-day pre-season. Maresca has commissioned a tailored “microdosing” regime, short, player-specific physical sessions, to prepare the squad while managing fatigue. They are scheduled to host Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan in upcoming friendly fixtures at Stamford Bridge before opening their new Premier League campaign against Crystal Palace on August 17.