Could Enzo Maresca look to sign a Ligue 1 star in the January transfer window?
One of the feelgood stories this season has been Reece James’ return to form and fitness for Chelsea and England, with the Stamford Bridge skipper only missing 154 minutes for The Blues so far.
After helping his side win the Club World Cup, James has been a key cog for Chelsea in the Premier League and on their return to the Champions League particularly given Malo Gusto’s struggles, but apart from the Frenchman specialist depth behind the 25-year-old is severely limited despite Enzo Maresca’s massive squad.
Prodigious Guela Doue can emulate Reece James at Stamford Bridge
Back in 2021, then-Chelsea boss Tuchel praised James’ potential to be a pivotal player for The Blues following two extremely positive seasons at Stamford Bridge and a sensational loan spell at Wigan where he almost single-handedly kept the Latics in the Championship.
"Right now he plays… at a very high level. He is far from finished in his development. He is super young. He has all the potential to be a big and important player for Chelsea and he is on his way. I feel he is dedicated and hungry for more, and that is what we want.”
Over three years later and in his new role as England manager, Tuchel handed James his first start for the Three Lions in 36 months and was vindicated when James opened the scoring with a marvelous curled free-kick, with the German gushing: "There cannot be any doubt about Reece's quality, it's the highest level."
While not quite as polished as James was in his third season playing for Chelsea, by which point he’d already a Champions League and was on his way to the first of two Club World Cups, Doue has that same potential and has already showed it Strasbourg last season.
Analysing the numbers from his 2024/25 Ligue 1 and James’ breakout 2020/21 Premier League campaign, the similarities are obvious. The duo excelled both at beating a defender with the ball at their feet, averaging over one successful take-on per match, and with pinging the ball upfield to the midfield and attack at 5 and 6 progressive passes respectively at an identical 84% accuracy.
Whereas Doue has so far split time between central defence and full-back, it’s not hard to see how he could successfully push up into defensive midfield like James and he’s already a much more accomplished aerial threat than the Chelsea captain was at the same age.
And whatever position he’s played, Doue emulates James in the way he loves to get on the ball. Only 2% of Ligue 1 full-backs racked up more touches than Doue in their own defensive third last season, he showed his razor-sharp instincts by also ranking in the 98th percentile for clearances, playing 32 times in the sixth-best defence in the division.
He has all the tools to improve his end product at the other end of the pitch too and in 2025/26 he’s already equalled his goal and two assists of last season. And perhaps best of all for Chelsea, he should be well within reach.
Chelsea in pole position to land Doue
Caught Offside report Aston Villa, Brentford, Brighton & Hove Albion, AC Milan and RB Leipzig are all chasing Doue and assert Strasbourg will refuse to sell the 23-year-old for less than €30m (£26m), but fail to mention how the multiclub ownership link between the sides could affect that.
In the space of just four complete transfer windows since BlueCo took over at La Meinau, 11 deals have been struck involving Chelsea and Strasbourg including three transfers for fees.
So it shouldn’t be too hard a negotiation for BlueCo to force BlueCo to drive down that fee if they feel like it, while likewise Brentford could find it difficult to persuade Chelsea’s owners that they should sell such an obviously talented player to The Bees rather than Chelsea.
Doue’s contracted to Le Racing until the end of 2029 so there isn’t a particular rush for his signature yet, but with such a talented player at their disposal and so many games still to play in the second half of the season if all goes according to plan, Chelsea may be best off pulling the trigger sooner rather than later.
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