England manager Thomas Tuchel has commented on whether he sees Reece James as a potential midfielder after the 25-year-old made his first start for England since 2022 in the 3-0 win over Latvia. The full-back scored an incredible free-kick, and his overall performance left fans demanding that Tuchel start him in the back ahead of Trent Alexander-Arnold when the 2026 World Cup rolls around.
At club level, James' boss Enzo Maresca has claimed he always planned to transition his captain further up the pitch after he impressed there against Copenhagen in the UEFA Conference League. Now, the Three Lions head honcho has made his feelings clear on where he sees his former Chelsea star's future.
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Speaking in his post-match press conference, Tuchel was posed the question of whether he could see James playing in a more advanced role under him and what he thought of Maresca's decision to try and mould the England international into a midfielder. While the 51-year-old admitted James could play further forward in games like against Latvia, where his team dominated the ball, he shot down the suggestion in situations where the game is more open and he could be exposed.
"I think we did [think about playing him in midfield] but very very rarely with Chelsea. I think if you play a dominant match like we did today, he can be, like in the last 20 minutes, a hybrid midfielder where he comes from the left or right full-back position and helps to create the overload because he has the quality on the ball to accelerate with his passes.
"Once it's an open game and there's a lot of transitions through midfield, I'm not so sure it would suit him perfectly. There cannot be any doubt about Reece's quality in itself. It's the highest level."
The speculation that James could move from full-back into midfield follows the same experiment that Gareth Southgate conducted with Alexander-Arnold in the Euros, where he lined up alongside Declan Rice to form a double pivot in front of the back four. The attempts were widely criticised, however, and after starting the first two games, the plans were abandoned, and the Liverpool star was thrown back to the bench as Kobbie Mainoo took his place in the engine room during the knockout stages of the competition.
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All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt - accurate as of 25/03/2025.