Pep Guardiola’s eternal drive is for his team to comprise of more midfielders than anyone else. Be it defenders that step out into the middle of the pitch with comfort on the ball or tempo-dictators from deep, Guardiola wants everyone to be able to play under pressure.
False nines – in the truest sense, not the slack way they’re referenced in modern day football – are an extension of that. Draw defenders out with intelligent positioning and build up play facing the goal.
Chelsea missed out on this memo. They didn’t sign a midfielder for four-and-a-half years between the summer of 2018 and Enzo Fernandez in January 2023. Whilst the world was developing a bit of a midfielder in everyone Chelsea created wing-backs and drew every sinue of juice from them instead.
It’s not to say that they were wrong, there isn’t a correct way to play football. But it’s hard to think things weren’t misguided. It’s intriguing, however, to now note that Chelsea have at least two very natural modern day fullbacks who, you guessed it, can play in midfield.
Lewis Hall is more naturally a midfielder than a fullback but has been played in defence due to his versatility and previous experience at youth level in that spot. On the ball he is everything Guardiola loves. His situation is comparable to Rico Lewis. Drift inside, fullback on paper but very capable of operating centrally in every other sense of the game.
The other player that most naturally suits this role at Chelsea is Reece James. He, like Hall, has already been deployed in midfield several times. Be it the way in which he looks to control a game, a specific tactic or as an orthodox midfielder from the get-go. James can set the tone for matches from wingback, fullback or midfield.
It’s hard not to see him playing more centrally as his career goes on. Yes, Chelsea have one of the best fullbacks in the world but they could, overtime, develop one of the most all-rounded midfielders too. Having a player that can do everything is, as Guardiola works towards, the dream.
With Chelsea finally adding a midfielder there is less space for James to be used centrally right now. The lack of direct replacements for him out wide also means he isn’t likely to play there too often yet anyway. Next season could be very different though.
The Blues have found their James understudy in Malo Gusto. The 19-year-old is one of the highest rated young talents in European football and not only offers rotation options for James he is also competition. Realistically Gusto is unlikely to be ousting the Cobham graduate from the starting XI any time soon but that’s also okay.
Gusto is a long-term answer and he can do much more than deputise for James. Both now and in the future Gusto can shape himself, Chelsea and James’ career. For too long there has been almost endless pressure on James to provide just about everything. Especially when it comes to moving forward, James has been almost a sole output. Knowing that there is a back-up capable of filling in for James is a luxury that he himself hasn’t had since becoming a mainstay of the side in 2020.
That alone will help James physically and mentally whilst Gusto’s very presence also opens up the chance of James moving onto the next stage of his career. He is already a dream box-to-box profile in the making. With some work here and there James could follow in the footsteps of Phillip Lahm.
The German unsurprisingly flourished under Guardiola and went from being an outstanding fullback to a tremendous midfielder. James is much younger than Lahm was when the change was made but it isn’t unrealistic to think that the 23-year-old can adjust. In the current circumstances the idea of moving James to the middle would be foolish but going forward it is something that may just become logical.
Reece James is a good enough player to master and learn the roles in midfield. In time and with the freedom that Gusto’s arrival will hopefully give him, Guardiola’s footballing dream could become a reality. At Chelsea.
Written by Tom Coley (@tomcoley49)
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