Chelsea loanee Reece James wins Player of the Month at Wigan Athletic for September

Chelsea loanee Reece James is wasting no time at all in his first foray into senior professional football.

At still just 18 years of age, he’s already become a key player at Championship newcomers Wigan Athletic, starting 10 of their 11 league matches so far and missing just 32 minutes of league action. While Wigan, who won League One last season to gain promotion back to the second tier, have struggled to score goals, they have been solid in defense, where James has been impressing as the first-choice right back. That has allowed them to stay in the early conversation for the promotion places.

Reece’s excellence — at both ends of the pitch — has now been recognized by the fans as well, who voted him the club’s Player of the Month for September.

In a way, this is hardly surprising. James may not be as well known as some of the other recent Chelsea Academy standouts, but he captained the U18 side to the FA Youth Cup title last season and was named the Blues’ Academy Player of the Year.

Born in (East) London and part of the club setup since the age of six, the versatile defender/midfielder (but mostly right back) signed a new four-year contract before heading off to Wigan for the season. He’s certainly one to keep an eye on for the future.