Maresca ‘expected more’ from Chelsea star linked with Barcelona move

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca admits that he feels let down by a lack of leadership from Reece James, stating that he feels the Blues lack a “proper leader”.

James made his way back to the Chelsea squad last weekend in the 2-1 defeat against Liverpool after a long-term hamstring injury.

He immediately grabbed the captain’s armband from Enzo Fernandez, who failed to make the starting XI, but while he was brought straight back into the team, Maresca admits that he felt disappointed by the player when he was injured.

“He is on the way, he’s doing well, he’s progressing, but from Reece I expected more also in terms of leadership,” Maresca said when asked how James managed his role as club captain while not playing.

“Most of the time when they are captain, they think that because they are captain they have more: ‘Because I am the captain, I expect that you give me more.’

“For me, because you are the captain you have to give more. You have to give more than the rest. And sometimes it’s – ‘OK, I am the captain I can give less’ – no.

“He’s one of the captains and I expected from him, and his teammates expected from him, to give always more in terms of leadership in general.”

A wider problem at Chelsea

Maresca was reticent to pin the total blame on the full-back.

“I think we don’t have a proper leader. We don’t have those guys. Probably Tosin Adarabioyo is one of the guys that is. So the rest we need to build them,” he said.

James’ long-term future at Chelsea was already in some doubt prior to Maresca’s comments.

FootballTransfers exclusively revealed that the player is exploring the possibility of a move to Barcelona in a bid to help his injury issues, while Real Madrid have also been linked with him as an alternative to Trent Alexander-Arnold.