Chelsea on red alert as Reece James' long-term future thrown into doubt: report
Chelsea could have a fight on their hands to keep hold of Reece James after he was linked with a move away from the club
Chelsea are on red alert after reports in Spain suggested Real Madrid have earmarked a move for Reece James.
The academy product was handed the captain's armband at Stamford Bridge over the summer after signing a six-year contract with the club last year.
Currently sidelined with a hamstring injury, James is nevertheless expected to be an integral part of Mauricio Pochettino's team this season.
But his long-term future has been thrown into doubt after Spanish publication Diario AS revealed that Real Madrid are keen to sign James as a long-term successor to Dani Carvajal.
The Spain international turns 32 in January and Madrid are acutely aware of the need to secure a replacement sooner rather than later.
James is unlikely to come cheap - he is valued at €65m by Transfermarkt and is under contract until 2028 - but the lure of the Blancos could prove too strong to resist.
There are no signs that James is contemplating a move away from his boyhood club just yet, but the England international will not want to be out of the Champions League for too long.
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Chelsea are absent from European competition this term after their 12th-place finish in the Premier League in 2022/23.
Due to Financial Fair Play considerations, the west Londoners have been willing to sell their academy graduates over the last couple of years, with Mason Mount, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham among those to depart.
Madrid are unlikely to submit a bid until next summer at the earliest, but the AS report states that James is the right-back they want.
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Greg Lea is a freelance football journalist who's filled in wherever FourFourTwo needs him since 2014. He became a Crystal Palace fan after watching a 1-0 loss to Port Vale in 1998, and once got on the scoresheet in a primary school game against Wilfried Zaha's Whitehorse Manor (an own goal in an 8-0 defeat).