24. Reece James

[Vesper 27,272]

4 hours ago, Superblue_1986 said:

The worry is that many of our first team players are performing so poorly at present, the hype for our youngsters coming in and being blooded during the ban could reach fever pitch and we'll end up with people expecting Reece James to come in and play like Cafu.

He has huge upside but he is also still very young and very raw, with a number of things to improve on. But he needs the experience and we need to freshen up our squad and options.

If he and some others were given the right platform and manager for a season, I think we would come out the other side far better for it with potentially 3 or 4 players proving good enough for this Chelsea squad, possibly the team to be added to Christensen, RLC and CHO. 

One step backwards could lead to two or three steps forwards. It just depends if the board are prepared to take that step backwards.

Cafu probably isn't the best example. James turns 20 next mid-season, same age as Cafu became full time starter, and at 21 and 22 he led São Paulo to back-to-back Copa Libertadores and World Club championships (called the Intercontinental Cup back then), and at 23 was named South American Footballer of the Year.

According to Sarri, CHO wont even start to be a top player until he is around 23, 24, so I assume for sure the same thing will be applied by him to James.

Good thing the old smoker never got his hands on Mbappe or Dembele. He would probably say Kylian was not legit because he was too young.

In the last rolling calendar year (vast majority as a teen), Mbappe has 50 goals and 32 assists for club and country, and a WC.

NOT comparing CHO or Reece to Mbappe talent-wise btw, just making a point that one doesn't know what will happen with really talented youngsters until you actually give them a spin in league play (NO, 103 minutes out of 2610 possible with zero starts is not a spin)

As if CHO would have been worse than that dreadful, piss-poor Pedro performance today was. Hell, Eden was tosh too, whole starting team was shameful.

 

 

[coolhead23 1,146]

1 hour ago, Vesper said:

just making a point that one doesn't know what will happen with really talented youngsters until you actually give them a spin in league play

Bang on!!! 

Everyone who ends up in a top 6 club has to be talented, goes without saying ... but whether they turn up to be even playing in the first team let along be elites all depends on how much support the player receives in terms of game time specially during the transition from the youth team to the first team. 

[nyikolajevics 2,419]

Reece is in the team of the season, no Tammy:

 

[ja1 1,166]

1 hour ago, nyikolajevics said:

Reece is in the team of the season, no Tammy:

 

Is this the official team of the season or just a BBC one?

[Jase 43,479]

59 minutes ago, ja1 said:

Is this the official team of the season or just a BBC one?

Official one.

 

[Yeboii 1,844]

4 hours ago, nyikolajevics said:

Reece is in the team of the season, no Tammy:

 

As a CB? I thought he had played as a RB and CM.

[MoroccanBlue 5,187]

Promoting him and getting rid of Zappacosta just makes so much sense on a club and business perspective. 

[nyikolajevics 2,419]

1 hour ago, Yeboii said:

As a CB? I thought he had played as a RB and CM.

He did. It's a 'team of the season, don't look for too much sense Pukki didn't play as a winger either.

[OneMoSalah 8,607]

On 18/03/2019 at 3:34 AM, Vesper said:

Cafu probably isn't the best example. James turns 20 next mid-season, same age as Cafu became full time starter, and at 21 and 22 he led São Paulo to back-to-back Copa Libertadores and World Club championships (called the Intercontinental Cup back then), and at 23 was named South American Footballer of the Year.

According to Sarri, CHO wont even start to be a top player until he is around 23, 24, so I assume for sure the same thing will be applied by him to James.

Good thing the old smoker never got his hands on Mbappe or Dembele. He would probably say Kylian was not legit because he was too young.

In the last rolling calendar year (vast majority as a teen), Mbappe has 50 goals and 32 assists for club and country, and a WC.

NOT comparing CHO or Reece to Mbappe talent-wise btw, just making a point that one doesn't know what will happen with really talented youngsters until you actually give them a spin in league play (NO, 103 minutes out of 2610 possible with zero starts is not a spin)

As if CHO would have been worse than that dreadful, piss-poor Pedro performance today was. Hell, Eden was tosh too, whole starting team was shameful.

 

 

Kylian Mbappe is a generation talent. Nobody would be stupid enough to not play him. Not even Sarri.

I hope CHO plays a lot more next season and personally I think he will, even if Sarri stays which is hard to tell but I do hope he does depsite mixed results the change in style has been pleasing,  its been a long time since we have played anything remotely close to this style of football - despite mixed results in attack where we have struggled at times. James maybe comes back if we shift Zappacosta but if we dont hes not gonna play. I think he has a huge chance because Zappacosta (and Giroud) all has complained about lack of playing time this season. 

Regarding Pedro, poor or not hes scored 8 or 9 PL goals this season. Hes not been amazing but hes put some good performances in considering how poor he was the season beforehand I feel.

[Superblue 6,331]

1 hour ago, OneMoSalah said:

Kylian Mbappe is a generation talent. Nobody would be stupid enough to not play him. Not even Sarri.

I hope CHO plays a lot more next season and personally I think he will, even if Sarri stays which is hard to tell but I do hope he does depsite mixed results the change in style has been pleasing,  its been a long time since we have played anything remotely close to this style of football - despite mixed results in attack where we have struggled at times. James maybe comes back if we shift Zappacosta but if we dont hes not gonna play. I think he has a huge chance because Zappacosta (and Giroud) all has complained about lack of playing time this season. 

Regarding Pedro, poor or not hes scored 8 or 9 PL goals this season. Hes not been amazing but hes put some good performances in considering how poor he was the season beforehand I feel.

Zappacosta has had 13 appearances so far this season and he is terrible in all facets of the game, and is clearly not trusted by Sarri hence why Azpi is flogged to death. Even Azpi having a poor season is still far better than Zappacosta in my opinion.

I'm pretty sure if Reece James was brought back in place of Zappacosta in the summer, minimum games he'd play next season is 20 across all comps and if he plays well there's no reason he won't play more games than that.

[OneMoSalah 8,607]

4 hours ago, Superblue_1986 said:

Zappacosta has had 13 appearances so far this season and he is terrible in all facets of the game, and is clearly not trusted by Sarri hence why Azpi is flogged to death. Even Azpi having a poor season is still far better than Zappacosta in my opinion.

I'm pretty sure if Reece James was brought back in place of Zappacosta in the summer, minimum games he'd play next season is 20 across all comps and if he plays well there's no reason he won't play more games than that.

But if we cant shift Zappacosta do you really think we are gonna trust an academy product ahead of a full back who cost 25m or whatever? 

If Zappa goes yes James has every chance of featuring as Azpis back up but if Zappa doesnt, I really cant see it.

[Superblue 6,331]

7 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

But if we cant shift Zappacosta do you really think we are gonna trust an academy product ahead of a full back who cost 25m or whatever? 

If Zappa goes yes James has every chance of featuring as Azpis back up but if Zappa doesnt, I really cant see it.

It purely comes down to the board. Zappacosta will be able to be shifted whether permanently or on loan, someone would take him in Italy. Zappacosta himself would also likely prefer to leave to somewhere he has more chance playing.

If the transfer ban stands, the board must be prepared to let some players leave and replace them and refresh the squad with some of our loan and/or academy players and take the chance. If we don't make top 4 this season it will be 2 in a row with largely the same squad, so surely any sane mind will be able to see that form will unlikely be reversed a third time.

If the transfer ban is reversed or deferred, the club must still make a bold decision. We need to rebuild this club and spreading a transfer budget out over 5 or 6 players could be a disaster like the 2017 summer window. Instead we should be filling our squad out with academy prospects and using our budget on say 3 key players to improve the first team. As Reece James is one of the better players from our academy in recent times and with a season of football under his belt, he should be one of the 3 or 4 we look at integrating into the squad.

[the wes 7,212]

 

[OhForAGreavsie 5,773]

Wigan fan site, Latics Speyk, is conducting its Player of The Year poll. So far about 5.7% of voters have not voted for nineteen year old Reece James. That leaves 94.3% who have voted for him.

Back in January one of the Latics Speyk members, bored of Reece winning player of the month, every month said the voting was a waste of time and that they might as well award Reece all the monthly trophies, and the POTY then and there.

The only real argument against Reece came in this post, "Sam for me...Because hes ours not somebody else's." To which someone else replied, "That is a very good point and the thought had crossed my mind but Reece James is such an exceptional talent I could not vote for him." [By 'him' the poster means 'Sam Whoever', not Reece.]

Meanwhile the local paper is putting forward the idea that Reece could be the finest player ever to play for Wigan. Either they are all getting carried away, or Reece is pretty decent.

P.S. They're now debating closing the voting and opening another ballot for runner-up.

 

 

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[MoroccanBlue 5,187]

Let's just hope he's given a shot next season. If he does well, it will save us a pretty penny. 

Imagine a team where RLC, CHO, and James are regular starters. 

[Jase 43,479]

 

[OneMoSalah 8,607]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

 

If we can lose Zappacosta it has to be considered. Unless we were to go for Wan Bissaka although we are transfer banned and gave him to Palace on loan for a year.

[killer1257 3,282]

9 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

If we can lose Zappacosta it has to be considered. Unless we were to go for Wan Bissaka although we are transfer banned and gave him to Palace on loan for a year.

Would be stupid to give him a chance in the first team squad under Sarri because Azpi always plays. He would make 10 steps backwards by playing under Sarri. He should be loaned out to a PL team, so even a stupid Sarri could see with his own eyes that James is PL material. Otherwise, he will waste a year