Crystal Palace reportedly bid £25m for Reece James but Frank Lampard’s Chelsea were never going to let him join a Premier League rival.
Reece James’ Chelsea debut was certainly worth the wait.
After an ill-timed injury forced him to twiddle his thumbs while Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori established themselves in the Premier League under Frank Lampard, James finally made his belated first-team bow in a remarkable EFL Cup tie against Grimsby Town on Wednesday night.
Now, it’s not often that a right-back is the best player on the pitch in a 7-1 mauling but James is no ordinary right-back. He proved that as much in the second half when he marked his Chelsea debut with a quite brilliant goal, curled home from the edge of the box with class and pinpoint accuracy.
There was an assist too in a rampaging performance, the kind of which Wigan Athletic fans got used to during James’ stellar loan spell at the DW Stadium last season. The key man in the Latics’ survival bid, 19-year-old James was even rewarded with a place in the Championship Team of the Season.
And the evidence on Wednesday night, it is no surprise that Chelsea rejected a £25 million bid from Crystal Palace for arguably their most exciting young talent, as reported by the Independent. It’s also no wonder why Palace felt James was the right man to replace Aaron Wan-Bissaka on the right of Roy Hodgson’s backline.
Like the £50 million Manchester United full-back, James is a player with maturity far beyond his years. But he also possesses the kind of composure and quality in the final third that Wan-Bissaka, who often looks lost when he receives the ball near the opposition goal, has so far failed to master.
A £25 million fee would have made James the third most expensive signing in Crystal Palace’s history, behind Christian Benteke and Mamadou Sakho.
But they, like Chelsea and Wigan, knew that this London-born teenager is the kind of elite talent that doesn’t come around too often.
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