Rafael Leao makes Reece James Chelsea confession as he ended Arnold debate

Reece James stole the limelight on Wednesday night as Chelsea beat Milan 3-0 at Stamford Bridge, reported Blues transfer target Rafael Leao made a big claim about the defender.

Wednesday night’s performance for Chelsea in the 3-0 win against AC Milan consolidated the fact that on current form, Reece James is nailed on to start ahead of Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold on the right side of defence for Gareth Southgate and England in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

However, a certain development in the England squad in the most recent hours could have change the 22-year-old’s brief in Southgate’s Three Lions set-up. As per various outlets, Man City’s Kyle Walker has gone under the knife for a groin issue that required surgery.

As a result, Walker’s chances of making the World Cup squad have significantly reduced. One man’s despair is another man’s fortune, and all of Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold, Newcastle’s Kyle Trippier and Arsenal’s Ben White will hope their starting chances increase as a result.

With the pace of the 32-year-old potentially missing from this back-five system, this may prompt Southgate to move the dangerous attacking threat of James to right-centre-back, which could limit some of his qualities.

“James is a good player, he was all over me and everywhere at the same time, he timed his runs very fine,” Leao said afterwards to somtosport.com.

“I hardly talk about opposing players but this guy is actually the toughest I have faced I think. He scored a goal too against us and that’s something you don’t get from every defender.

“We just have to focus and finish in a good position now cause the competition was never expected to be easy. We slipped and we won’t let that hold us back, we will work harder for the next games.”