Enzo Maresca summed up Reece James’ recent renaissance with a big smile on his face. “He is in a very good mood,” the Chelsea head coach said.

It has felt a long time since James has been in any position to feel this upbeat. As has been well documented, injuries, mainly to his hamstrings, have robbed the England international of time on the pitch over the last few years and Chelsea of using one of their most inspirational players regularly.

His finely placed shot to open the scoring just after half-time of Chelsea’s 2-1 win at FC Copenhagen wasn’t the only significant thing to take from James’ contribution in Denmark’s capital. His presence in the first XI took his appearances for the season to 12, one more than he managed for the whole of last season. The minutes gap between the two campaigns is reading better too: 736 in 2024-25 compared to the mere 482 in 2023-24.

Now, no one, not even James himself, will get too excited about this ‘achievement’, but it should still be seen as some cause for optimism that a corner is finally being turned. This is the eighth time James has featured for Chelsea in the last 10 games, and that is beginning to look like a good run of matches without suffering any setbacks.

In October, Maresca said that he did not think that James was able to play more than once a week after he had just returned to the side. The Italian’s gloomy prediction was soon proved right. Having missed the start of the season, James played just four times before being ruled out for another two months.

Maresca is still being cautious now. He left him on the bench for the 4-0 win against Southampton last week, with the fixture coming just three days after he played the full 90 minutes at Aston Villa. However, sources at the club, who spoke to The Athletic anonymously to protect relationships, say that James felt in very good condition to play against Southampton as well. It is seen as James growing in confidence with his body again.

Maresca’s wariness over overextending such a valuable asset hasn’t changed and that surely puts his selection from the start against Leicester City on Sunday in doubt. The responsibility to ensure James remains available for selection weighs heavily on his mind.

“We know how important he is for us,” Maresca added after the Copenhagen victory. “He is our captain, a fantastic player but we all know the most important thing for Reece is that we need him fit. It is our duty and our target to keep him fit until the end because for sure, he is going to help us.”

The next target James will want to aim for is his game time achieved in 2022-23, which was 24 appearances and 1,936 minutes. This is achievable because Chelsea have 11 Premier League games to go, plus another six if they reach the Conference League final — as many expect. Then there is their participation in the Club World Cup, which begins in June, to bear in mind.

Anyone who has seen James at his very best can see he is not at the top of his game or physical fitness yet. But James is proving he has a lot to offer even when he is not 100 per cent — and Chelsea need him regardless.

James is the last real link from the successful Roman Abramovich era to the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium, who have not seen the men’s senior side win a trophy since buying the club in May 2022. James played in the 2021 Champions League final win over Manchester City. The only players left on the books from that night are Ben Chilwell and Kepa Arrizabalaga but they are on loan at Crystal Palace and Bournemouth respectively. Former backup keeper Willy Caballero is on site too but in a different capacity due to being part of Maresca’s backroom staff as assistant coach.

Maresca admitted he ‘expected more’ from James as a captain back in October and he has certainly been stepping up in recent weeks. His last-minute free kick against Bournemouth in January ensured Chelsea avoided successive defeats in the league; the kind of impact a skipper needs to make on the field. Chelsea had laboured in attack against Copenhagen until his fine effort from 25 yards found the bottom corner just after the interval.

As revealed last week, James has been trying to improve the mood in the camp, which was damaged by a slump in form. They won just two out of 10 league games and were knocked out of the FA Cup by Brighton & Hove Albion. James orchestrated a team meal to lift morale and even volunteered to speak to the media after the loss at Aston Villa last month despite it being something he has never been too comfortable with. It was a relatively small gesture but did not go unnoticed by others and he spoke again after the final whistle on Thursday night.

It is probably too early for an England recall. Thomas Tuchel names his first England squad next week, but the former Chelsea head coach will not have forgotten what James can offer. James played his best football under Tuchel during his reign between January 2021 and September 2022 and was also a regular in the line-up.

Maresca during Thursday night’s game (Patrik Lundin/Getty Images)

Maresca is now picking James in midfield. This will take some of the pressure off those hamstrings, which felt more of the burden when he was employed as a marauding right back. He has also operated as a right-sided centre back, which is again less physically stressful.

Yet with Romeo Lavia not able to complete 90 minutes since joining from Southampton in 2023 due to his own injury problems, operating more centrally provides another area of the pitch for James to make his mark.

“He can play in many positions because the good players can play in many positions,” Maresca concluded. “At this moment, we are using him as a midfielder and he is doing very well.

“When I signed with Chelsea (to take charge in June), probably the day after, I sent him a video about seeing him as a midfielder. When you watch a player, you sometimes need to use imagination and imagine a player doing something. I always imagined him behaving as a midfielder. I watched some of his games when he was on loan from Chelsea to Wigan (in 2018-19) where he scored a fantastic goal from 25 or 30 metres as a midfielder.

“But the best thing about Reece at the moment is he is helping the team with leadership and he is growing a lot since I mentioned we needed him and this is important.”

If James can keep this up for the rest of the season, he really will be in great spirits.

(Top photo: Patrik Lundin/Getty Images)