Joe Cole has revealed that he wants Reece James back in the English team after the strong performance of the Chelsea star against Copenhagen on Thursday.
The 25-year-old gave the lead before his side with a stunning right-handed Thunderbolt in the 46th minute, who finally ran the left corner.
Enzo Fernandez scored the second goal with a well-chopped shot, followed by a strike from the center of Copenhagen Gabriel Pereira to close the game with 1-2 on the Scoresheets.
Chelsea has arrived as strong favorites in the park stage despite their heavy squadrotation when manager Enzo Maresca seemed to offer the youth of the club a chance.
James – who supplied the team – played from the start to the last whistle in an unusual defensive midfielder position.
“He will have the respect of every player in Chelsea because of what he can do technically and physically,” said Cole during the analysis after the match on TNT sports. “When he was at his best, he was as good as someone in the world, no doubt.
“The point is that he finds his inner peace and can manage him in games. He can play in midfield, he did it when he was on loan with Wigan and got player of the year as a young child. It looks comfortable there.
“He has so much to offer to Chelsea and so much to offer England. It is so great to see that he influences the game as he did tonight. Do not give Reece James because there is still a real, real world -class player who can be a huge player for Chelsea and England. Hopefully he can continue now. '
Academy Wonderkid Shumaira Mheuka appeared and became the youngest player of Blues ever to start in a European game.
He was accompanied by Tyrique George in a heavily rotated team prior to the Chelsea collision with Leicester City on Sunday.
Captain James, however, seems to have overcome his physical problems, because the Englishman has already completed two games of 90 minutes in the last two weeks after a recent loss for Aston Villa.
“It's a big step in the right direction,” he said. 'This is a difficult place to come, the atmosphere is great and they have set up well.
'It is always frustrating to admit late – we wanted to keep a clean magazine tonight – but we have the victory.
'It is always good to score and help the team. It will be a huge game again next week, because we really want to move forward and win this competition. '
James' last performance for the national team will be against Italy in March 2023, because the 25-year-old has been fighting with injuries since then.
In the meantime, Thomas Tuchel weighs his selection of England team prior to friendly matches with Albania and Latvia on 21 and 24 March respectively.
It is understood that the German specialist has drawn up a 55-man longlist prior to his announcement, including Arsenal Wonderkids Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri.
Following James' impressive representation in the middle of the field, Enzo Maresca was full of praise for the Englishman.
He said: “He is in a very good mood. He played very well against Aston Villa and again tonight. We know how important he is for us. He is our captain, a fantastic player, but we all know that the most important thing for Reece is that we need him.
'It is our duty and our goal to keep him fit to the end, because he will certainly help us. Tonight, again, he played very well, scored a goal. He can play in many positions because the good players can play in many positions.
'We are currently using it as a midfielder and he is doing very well. When I drew at Chelsea, probably the day after, I sent him a video about seeing him as a midfielder.
'He is playing there now, but the good is that he already played a full-back this year, as the center and in the central midfielder. The main goal for us is to help him be fit throughout the season. '
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