Scholes convinced Chelsea are misusing one of their biggest stars; Maresca seemingly agrees

Steve Pearson 02 Nov 2024 7:24 AM

Pundit Paul Scholes, Chelsea captain Reece James

Paul Scholes believes Chelsea are misusing Reece James

Paul Scholes has voiced concerns over Reece James’ suitability for the captain’s role at Chelsea, and recent comments from Enzo Maresca show the Blues boss isn’t convinced by the right-back’s leadership either.

James succeeded Cesar Azpilicueta as Chelsea captain upon the Spaniard’s switch to Atletico Madrid in 2023. Persistent injury issues have greatly limited James’ impact on the field since then, though his capabilities as captain of the side are now coming under the microscope too.

Speaking on an episode of The Overlap, Manchester United legend, Paul Scholes, suggested James is too shy and quiet to be captain of a club the size of Chelsea.

“The captain’s role is quite important,” began Scholes. “We had some unbelievable captains at Manchester United.

“Bryan Robson is someone you look up to with the stature, the presence, he looks after his players. Roy Keane – these types of players. I think it’s important.

“You look at Arsenal, you look at the great captains – Tony Adams, Chelsea – John Terry, Liverpool – Steven Gerrard. All the big characters in the team, it’s important for these young players to look up to that. I think it’s big.

“I remember when Reece James got appointed, I thought, he doesn’t look like a captain to me.

“He seems very quiet and shy. You can be captain like that but he’s just not the character that you’d expect for a club the size as Chelsea football club.”

What Maresca said about Reece James

Scholes comments came on the back of Chelsea boss Maresca voicing his own concerns about James’ leadership.

“For me, because you are the captain, you have to give more than the rest,” said Maresca last week. “Sometimes, ‘OK, I am the captain, I can give less.’ No. He’s one of the captains and I expected from him, and his team-mates expected from him, to give always more in terms of leadership.”

When asked how James has responded to Maresca’s calls for greater authority, direction and personality, the Blues boss added: “Good, that’s why I said he’s on the way. He understands we expected more from him. He’s one of our guys from the academy but this is one of the reasons why he has to show more in terms of personality.”

Maresca went on to admit Chelsea “don’t have a proper leader” at present, though did name centre-backs Tosin Adarabioyo and Levi Colwill as figures who are stepping up behind the scenes.

“When you don’t have a proper leader, you need to build that,” continued Maresca. “I think we don’t have a proper leader. Probably Tosin (Adarabioyo) is one of the guys that is. The rest, we need to build them.

“Reece is there, he’s on the way but he’s not there. He needs to make an effort in that one. Levi (Colwill) probably at the beginning of the season was not a leader but now you can see that he is one of the guys that is always speaking. We need to build that.”