Reece James’ 2025 has been peppered with landmarks in his Chelsea career, and he will end the year with another.
On May 25, Chelsea qualified for the Champions League for the first time under James’ captaincy. Three days later, he lifted his first trophy as captain when Chelsea won the Conference League, and on July 13, he added another with victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup final. October 18 saw James reach 200 appearances for his boyhood club on their trip to Nottingham Forest.
Tonight, when Chelsea host Bournemouth, will mark another milestone: one year injury-free. After a hamstring injury in November 2024, James returned to Enzo Maresca’s matchday squad on December 30 for their 2-0 defeat away at Ipswich Town and, bar a brief illness in March, has been fit ever since.
Given how injuries have disrupted the 26-year-old’s career to date, that is a huge achievement — for which both player and club deserve credit.
“The fact that he’s been able to sustain a good period without injury is definitely a positive sign for him going forward,” says physiotherapist Luke Anthony, who has not worked with James but provided The Athletic with a general view from his time at Watford, Reading, and Norwich City.
“I think probably the biggest difference with him is he’s been able to get on a run (of games) and he’s had a period of adaptation where he has developed that robustness.
“What may have happened is either that he has just been able to develop that consistency of training and develop strength in his body, (or) whether he has changed his approach.”
Two statistics from Chelsea’s festive fixtures highlight the improvement in James’ availability.
He made his 50th club appearance of 2025 against Aston Villa on Saturday, the highest figure he has reached in a calendar year since 2021. Hamstring and knee problems have particularly plagued James, and across the past three full seasons, he has averaged 22.3 appearances in all competitions per campaign. He has already made 22 appearances this season with five months remaining.
The club’s medical team, led by Bryce Cavanagh, have managed James carefully. Ben Macdonald, one of Chelsea’s rehab physios, has been tasked with working closely with James on his fitness and the two have developed a strong rapport.
James is also an example of how Chelsea believe their approach to load management can pay off. As The Athletic have reported, this season has seen a deliberate strategy of carefully managing players’ minutes, led by the medical and performance team.
The graph below shows James’ rolling minutes-per-game average. Previously, steep drops were followed by sharp peaks as he was introduced to a heavy load quickly after returning. Since his return in January, his minutes have been managed more carefully.
“It makes perfect sense to take longer with the return to play,” Anthony says. “There is such a huge gap between a few days or a week of training and then being able to sustain 90 minutes of high-intensity Premier League football game by game.
“Sometimes with these soft-tissue injuries, you don’t necessarily get the warning signs, and the player plays and feels OK. Then the temptation is to use him again, especially if they’re an important player in your team.”
Anthony explains the importance of patience as a player’s tissues adapt to the load of professional football after a lay-off. “It takes a period of time to develop that, especially when you’re coming back from injury. Otherwise, you are more vulnerable to that injury.”
A tweak to James’ position could also have helped his continued fitness. The idea of using him in midfield is not new; in the days after Maresca’s appointment, the head coach sent James footage of him playing in midfield when on loan at Wigan Athletic in the 2018-19 season and suggested they could explore that.
It has become increasingly common to see the Chelsea captain playing in a defensive-midfield role, and as well as yielding impressive performances, Anthony suggests the shift might also have helped reduce the strain on his muscles.
Reece James, playing against Preston North End in 2019, featured in midfield while on loan at Wigan (David Shipman – CameraSport via Getty Images)
“(Wide players) generally have an exposure to more distance of high-speed running and more sprints, more one-v-ones in those areas offensively and defensively. The central positions will generally have less distance of sprints and high-speed running.
“As a midfielder, you’ll have more distance covered, but you’ll likely have fewer offensive and defensive sprints, which are again, slightly more attritional for a soft-tissue injury.”
James himself is also credited for his hard work, with one source close to the player — speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships — saying it is like he lives at the training ground. The individual work he has done includes working with his own external physiotherapist, in addition to the support he is given by Chelsea.
Hand in hand with James’ improved availability has been his growth as a leader, which has been noticed around the club.
“I spoke with him, and I expected more from him in terms of leadership, inside the changing room and for different kinds of things,” Maresca said of James in October 2024. “He’s one of the captains. I expected from him, and his team-mates expected from him, to give always more in terms of leadership in general.”
Naturally, being on the pitch more often has helped James’ leadership, and he has responded well to Maresca’s challenge. As he has grown into the captaincy, he has expressed himself more and his increased comfort in media interviews has been noticed at Chelsea. He is described as having the respect of everyone at the club.
James has stepped up to Maresca’s demands for his Chelsea captain (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images)
James’ maturity was evident in his post-match interview with Sky Sports on Saturday, when he said Chelsea “have ourselves to blame” for errors that cost them in the 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa.
“Absolutely, yes,” Maresca said when asked in his press conference ahead of the Villa match if James was now playing and behaving like the captain he wanted. “He’s growing in terms of leadership, he’s growing also in terms of (as a) player, because he’s playing more and more minutes.
“We are all happy, first of all, because he can be fit, he can be healthy. And then because we know that he can behave as a leader.”
Chelsea have supported their captain throughout his injury troubles. In September 2022, he signed a contract that runs until 2028. Chelsea’s general policy is not to hold contract talks during the season, wanting players to focus on the campaign, and prefer to do so in summer. Even if James travels to the World Cup in 2026 with England as expected, that does not necessarily mean an agreement could not be reached this summer; Cole Palmer, for instance, signed a new deal in August 2024 after the European Championship.
At a time when Chelsea need strong leadership, James’ continued fitness and growth are surely one of the biggest positives to take from 2025.