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Enzo Maresca has told Reece James that he needs to become a better leader, with the Chelsea head coach revealing he “expected more” from the 24-year-old club captain.
James appeared for the first time this season last weekend, lasting less than an hour in the 2-1 Premier League defeat to Liverpool after overcoming his latest hamstring injury.
Chelsea staff have now decided that James' body cannot cope with two games in a week, with the captain being one of those who will stay at home for Thursday's Convention League trip to Panathinaikos.
Ahead of Sunday's visit to Newcastle, Maresca lamented his lack of a “proper leader” and publicly challenged James, saying: “I expected more from him in terms of leadership, within the dressing room. He's on his way, he's doing well, he's progressing, but I expected more from Reece in terms of leadership as well.
'For me, being the captain, you have to give more than the rest. Sometimes, “okay, I'm the captain, I can give less.” No. He is one of the captains and I expected him, and his teammates expected him, to always give more in terms of leadership.'
Enzo Maresca has asked Reece James to “give more in terms of leadership” at Chelsea
The full-back recently returned from injury during their loss to rivals Liverpool.
When asked how James responded to this private conversation, Maresca said, “Well, that's why I said it's on its way.” He understands that we expected more from him. He is one of our academy boys, but this is one of the reasons why he has to show more in terms of personality.
'When you don't have a suitable leader, you need to create one. I think we don't have a proper leader. Tosin (Adarabioyo) is probably one of the guys who are. The rest, we have to build them.
'Reece is there, he is on his way but he is not there. You need to make an effort at that. Levi (Colwill) probably wasn't a leader at the beginning of the season, but now you can see he's one of the guys who's always talking. “We need to build that.”
James is improving his fitness and, after missing the midweek trip to Athens, the Greek haber, could start against Newcastle. “It is important that he does not get injured again,” Maresca added.
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“Every club has some players who always get injured, get injured, get injured.” We need to find the right solution for him and try to help him. Probably at this point the solution could be to use it merienda a week. We would like to use him every day because he is a fantastic player but we have to adapt.
“In football you never know. You can get injured walking, you never know. But we all agree that for him the solution now is to play one game a week. He agrees. He knows himself and agrees. Hopefully in the future I can play more games.”