Enzo Maresca has explained why he has always viewed Chelsea captain Reece James "as a midfielder."
The Italian deployed James in central midfield alongside Moises Caicedo as Chelsea secured a 2-1 win over FC Copenhagen in their Europa Conference League round of 16 first-leg clash on Thursday.
The decision raised eyebrows pre-match but proved effective, with James not only opening the scoring but also impressing in his new role.
"You can ask Reece, when I signed for Chelsea, the day after I sent him a video about seeing him as a midfielder," Maresca said post-match, according to Football London. "I see Reece as a midfielder. Since day one. I sent him a clip when he was on holiday about how he can be a midfielder."
He continued: "When you watch a player you sometimes need to use imagination and imagining a player doing something. I watched some of his games when he was on loan at Wigan where he scored a fantastic goal from 25 or 30 metres."
James' Chelsea teammates were quick to praise his performance in midfield.
After the match, he posted a photo of himself celebrating his goal on Instagram, which drew a wave of comments from his fellow Blues.
"Siuuuu," wrote Marc Cucurella, referencing Cristiano Ronaldo's iconic celebration. Pedro Neto commented: "What a player," while Trevoh Chalobah said: "Serious tekk."
Other responses came from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Josh Acheampong, and James’ sister, Lauren James, who plays for Chelsea’s women’s team.
Chelsea next face Maresca’s former club, Leicester City, at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on Sunday.
After James' strong performance against Copenhagen, it will be interesting to see where Maresca deploys him against the Foxes, if at all.
Regardless, the Chelsea boss is simply glad to have him fit again.
"We know how important he is for us," Maresca said. "He's our captain, a fantastic player. We need him fit, so that is our duty, our target because for sure he is going to help us. He can play in many positions because the good players can play in many positions."
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