Chelsea prospect Reece James was handed his full Premier League debut at the weekend.
James was handed his full Premier League debut for Chelsea at the weekend, as they beat Crystal Palace 2-0.
The youngster was given the difficult task of marking Wilfried Zaha, who is so often Palace’s most dangerous outlet, but he managed to keep the skilful wide-man quiet.
James has a lot of admirers in the Chelsea staff, with assistant manager Jody Morris a huge fan of the teenager, after coaching him at youth-team level.
And Lampard feels that James has already earned the respect of Chelsea’s more experienced players through his impressive appearances in training.
“He’s got the abilities to go very, very far. It’s hard to cap that or not cap it, but what I see from him in training, I saw it in him at Wigan,” Lampard said. “Jody and Joe know him well from the youth teams here and speak highly of him and his talents.
“I saw it last year and I’m seeing it now in training. When you see experienced players respect young players who come train with them and see the quality, it’s always a good sign. I’ve got huge belief that he can go as far as he wants to go in the game.
“I’ve seen so much improvement. His raw talent and ability was there to see today. This is just the start of the story. There is a lot more to add to that. He’s going to be a big, big player for this club.”
James has now firmly pushed himself into contention for a regular starting berth at Chelsea.
Lampard has a real selection dilemma on his hands at right-back, as if he picks James it could mean having to leave Cesar Azpilicueta out.
Azpilicueta could play at left-back, but Lampard is also unlikely to want to drop Emerson, who has proved a dangerous attacking outlet this term.
Chelsea are next in action after the international break when they take on Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
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