‘Watch this space’ – Chelsea warned that key player could force transfer exit | Football

Chelsea have been warned that club captain Reece James may not sign a new long-term contract if they don’t back his ambition in the coming transfer windows.

James is enjoying a superb season at Stamford Bridge having been tormented with consisent injury problems in recent seasons gone by.

The 26-year-old has excelled at both full-back and in central midfield, while also establishing himself as a key figure in Thomas Tuchel’s England side ahead of this summer’s World Cup.

James won the Club World Cup and Conference League under Enzo Maresca last season, and could still lift silverware again this campaign, with Chelsea still in the Carabao Cup, FA Cup and Champions League.

However, former Chelsea defender Jason Cundy believes that the club might have to show more ambition with their recruitment if they are to get James to extend his current deal, which expires in the summer of 2028.

And Cundy even claimed that the club’s owner BlueCo may decide to cash in on James this summer if there are indications that their captain is willing to run down his contract and leave on a free.

‘Watch this space,’ Cundy said on talkSPORT. ‘They are going to have to do something about that. We need to keep Reece James. Let me tell you now, we need to get Reece around a table and sign a new contract.

‘We’ve seen what Trent did at Liverpool. If it gets to 18 months left, you can’t allow him to get into his final year because then he will potentially walk for nothing.

‘We’ve just seen Marc Guehi leave for a song. He’s worth three times what Manchester City paid for him.

‘One of the things I understood from the new owners when they came in was they were astonished that we allowed Rudiger and Christensen – worth well over £100m between them two of them – to walk on a free.

‘They could not get around the fact that the previous regime allowed that to happen. So I will be stunned and amazed if they allowed Reece to have so much power without signing a new contract.’

Despite murmurings of discontent from the fanbase, Chelsea’s current owners have stuck with their transfer policy of buying young players with resale value on long-term contracts.

But Cundy believes that this strategy may not set Chelsea up to contend in the short term, and may have key players like James thinking about running down their contracts and moving elsewhere to win silverware.