Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca is waiting on right back Reece James to demonstrate his fitness levels before determining how to best use him.

The captain of the team has not played a minute of competitive action this season due to a recurrence of a problematic hamstring injury that he had surgery to repair last December. The issue kept him out for much of the 2023–34 season.

Much has transpired in west London after James’s departure. Especially the head coach, who has instituted a new style of play based on the Italian tactician’s preference for a full-back moving inside to overload the center and control possession.

This has been most noticeable with Malo Gusto shifting from right back into the middle of the field, which causes the other two defenders to form a triple when Chelsea have the ball.

Once James is fully fit, he will be eager to recover his spot in the starting lineup after an extended layoff. The match against the Frenchman, who has done a fantastic job filling in, is sure to be an exciting one.

But, James will need to adjust to a different position, as Mauricio Pochettino and Thomas Tuchel mainly utilized him as an attacking fullback who was told to give assistance down the right side instead of moving into midfield.Maresca was asked during a press conference before Chelsea’s match against Liverpool if the 24-year-old can fill in for the injured defender. The Italian merely wanted to get the defender back to full fitness before talking about tactics.

“He needs to be fit before we can see any progress,” Maresca stated. For Reece, being fit is priority number one; after that, we’ll figure out how to use him. We have a lot of players that can switch it up and play a variety of roles.

At the end of the day, James has everything he needs to excel as an inverted right-back. After all, he has experience playing center midfielder during his loan with Wigan Athletic, even though he has solely played right back throughout his time at Stamford Bridge.