Swansea City ‘keen to sign’ Reece James on loan from Chelsea — report

Reece James has been turning heads for many years now, first in the Chelsea Academy, then on the youth international stage, and last season on loan at Wigan Athletic in the Championship. The 20-year-old impressed so much in fact that his name has been one of the first and most frequently mentioned as part of the incoming youth revolution at Stamford Bridge next season.

Those intentions have taken a bit of a detour however in the past couple weeks after James injured his ankle while playing for England U20 at the Toulon Tournament. He avoided a break, but the heavily strained ligaments are still expected to keep him out action for about three months.

It’s a most untimely injury given the crucial preseason coming up, which he will now probably miss in its entirety. Any way you cut it, that won’t be good for his first-team prospects. So it’s understandable that other teams are lining up in case Reece’s future lies with the Loan Army once more.

The latest in that queue are apparently Swansea City, led by new head coach Steve Cooper, who had been England U16/U17 manager for the past five years (including the 2017 win at the U17 World Cup), and has already worked with James at that level.

Swansea finished midtable in the Championship last season, and will surely look to do better next season. Would that be a challenge enough for James after last season? Probably not.

But even if James stays with Chelsea, as he hopefully will, a loan or two to Swansea would not be surprising.