Brighton are plotting a ‘shock’ £10m move for ‘brilliant’ Chelsea starlet Reece James, according to the Sun on Sunday.
In the print edition of the paper (October 21, p61), their transfer expert Alan Nixon claims that he has caught the eye of new director of football Dan Ashworth after some superb performances for Wigan.
The speedy 18-year-old right-back has been turning heads on loan in the Championship and Ashworth has seen enough.
He wants him as a ‘big signing’ and a long-term replacement for 38-year-old defender Bruno.
Ashworth was already aware of what James could do from his time with the England Under-20s – he is a former FA chief – but the report claims that Chelsea think James could make their first-team and will demand a huge fee and possibly a buy-back clause.
OPINION
James is the latest of a large line of hugely-talented youngsters at Chelsea. The one common factor though is that none of them are getting anywhere near the first-team. The latest was Callum Hudson-Odoi, who many Chelsea fans wanted to see in the first-team this season. Bar a start in the Community Shield, that hasn’t happened and it seems like a move away is the best for all of them. James is currently on loan at Wigan in the Championship but has caught the eye of the Premier League side. £10m is a huge amount of money to spend on an 18-year-old but Ashworth clearly has faith is his abilities and if he can get it right, James could be worth multiple times that in the future. In Ashworth they’ve got a director of football who knows the cream of the new English crop inside out from his time with the FA and that could prove invaluable in rebuilding the Brighton squad. Chelsea obviously rate James though and a buyback clause could work well for everyone, including the player himself.