{"id":21358,"date":"2026-07-25T18:13:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T18:13:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=21358"},"modified":"2026-07-25T18:13:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T18:13:20","slug":"reece-james-father-says-theres-a-free-agent-whod-be-really-good-for-chelsea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=21358","title":{"rendered":"Reece James&#8217; father says there&#8217;s a free agent who&#8217;d be &#8216;really good&#8217; for Chelsea"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-378456\">\n<div class=\"article-follow\">\n<div class=\"article-sharing google-follow\">  <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"28\" height=\"28\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/wp-content\/themes\/grv-media\/img\/google-discover.svg\" alt=\"\"\/> <span>Add as preferred source on Google<\/span>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Chelsea\u2019s business is not done after the Maxence Lacroix signing, with Nigel James even calling for another move.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Nigel James is a respected UEFA-qualified coach and the father of Chelsea stars Reece and Lauren James. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-grvmedia-grv-video GRVMultiVideo\"\/>\n<p>His insight comes at a busy time as Chelsea reshape their squad under Xabi Alonso. The Blues have added Italian full-back Marco Palestra and England playmaker Morgan Rogers, before making another major move to agree a \u00a352 million deal for France and Crystal Palace centre-back Maxence Lacroix. <\/p>\n<p>However, Reece James\u2019 father isn\u2019t quite satisfied just yet.<\/p>\n<section class=\"grv-talking-point\" data-trigger=\"vue-sidebar\" data-story-id=\"5a9c74ee-9dfb-4c17-80a3-f12c2bcadb5e\" data-story-name=\"Talk Chelsea\" data-comment-id=\"c1d6ae58-c5c7-4bca-b3de-42b9c1a73899\" data-story-slug=\"talk-chelsea\">\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__inner\">\n<header class=\"grv-talking-point__header\">  <\/header>\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__content\">\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__cta\">\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__title-wrap\">\n<p><h3 class=\"grv-talking-point__title\">How do you rate each of Chelsea\u2019s new signings 1\ufe0f\u20e3-\ud83d\udd1f?<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__embed\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 991px) 100vw, 800px\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn1.thechelseachronicle.com\/uploads\/17\/2026\/07\/split-of-four-graphic-2-819x1024.png\" alt=\"Chelsea's signings under Xabi Alonso\" class=\"wp-image-378398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn1.thechelseachronicle.com\/uploads\/17\/2026\/07\/split-of-four-graphic-2-819x1024.png 819w, https:\/\/cdn1.thechelseachronicle.com\/uploads\/17\/2026\/07\/split-of-four-graphic-2-240x300.png 240w, https:\/\/cdn1.thechelseachronicle.com\/uploads\/17\/2026\/07\/split-of-four-graphic-2-768x960.png 768w, https:\/\/cdn1.thechelseachronicle.com\/uploads\/17\/2026\/07\/split-of-four-graphic-2-912x1140.png 912w, https:\/\/cdn1.thechelseachronicle.com\/uploads\/17\/2026\/07\/split-of-four-graphic-2-600x750.png 600w, https:\/\/cdn1.thechelseachronicle.com\/uploads\/17\/2026\/07\/split-of-four-graphic-2.png 1080w\"\/><\/div><figcaption title=\"(Photo by Glyn KIRK \/ IKIMAGES \/ AFP) (Photo by GLYN KIRK\/IKIMAGES\/AFP via Getty Images), (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA\/Getty Images), (Photo by Darren Walsh\/Chelsea FC via Getty Images), (Photo by Darren Walsh\/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)\">Photo by Darren Walsh\/Chelsea FC via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-nigel-james-gives-his-seal-of-approval-to-john-stones-transfer\">Nigel James gives his seal of approval to John Stones transfer<\/h2>\n<p>Speaking on an episode of the Beautiful Game podcast, Nigel was asked the question about John Stones potentially joining Chelsea, and his response made things very clear.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was just something that someone said the other day when he was playing, they said, \u2018oh, he\u2019s out of contract. \u2018And someone said he would be a great addition at Chelsea. And I thought, yeah, you\u2019re probably right, he would be a really, really good addition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStonesy\u2019s a top player as we can see, you know, what he\u2019s done over the years, playing at Man City and England, sort of thing. And he\u2019s a great, great personality. You\u2019ve seen the banter haven\u2019t you? He\u2019s a top top lad. Everyone I\u2019ve spoken to who knows him says he\u2019s top. We would love to have someone like him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea are actively weighing up a shock move for John Stones after the 32-year-old defender officially became a free agent following the expiration of his Manchester City contract. <\/p>\n<p>Having impressed for England during their World Cup run, Stones offers the top-level experience, calm leadership, and proven trophy-winning pedigree that Xabi Alonso is craving. <\/p>\n<div class=\"see-more-wrapper lazy see-more-open see-more-blank extra-content\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/transfer-news\/reece-james-father-says-theres-a-free-agent-whod-be-really-good-for-chelsea\/none\" data-type=\"subscribe\">\n<div class=\"see-more subscribe\">\n<figure class=\"newsletter\">\n<div><svg class=\"loading\" width=\"118\" height=\"36\" viewbox=\"0 0 118 36\"><use href=\"#dots-svg\"\/><\/svg><\/p>\n<div class=\"signup\"><span class=\"hf\">Join Our Newsletter<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Receive a digest of our best Chelsea content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><script>grvLoadAnalytics = () => {(function(d,s,i){var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)(0),j=d.createElement(s);j.async=true;j.src=\"https:\/\/www.googletagmanager.com\/gtag\/js?id=\"+i;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(document,'script','G-E7VRWQHDP6');(function(d,s,i){if(!\/callback=in\/.test(window.location.search)){var e=d.createElement(s);var n=d.getElementsByTagName(s)(0);e.type=\"text\/javascript\";e.async=true;e.src=\"https:\/\/static.chartbeat.com\/js\/chartbeat.js\";n.parentNode.insertBefore(e,n);}})(document,\"script\",\"G-E7VRWQHDP6\");(function(){let s=document.createElement(\"script\");s.async=true;s.dataset.domain=\"thechelseachronicle.com\/MFj4XQ\";s.src=\"https:\/\/api.publytics.net\/js\/script.manual.ping.min.js\";document.getElementsByTagName(\"head\")(0).appendChild(s);})();if(!\/callback=in\/.test(window.location.search)){setTimeout(function(){!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=();t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)(0);s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');fbq('init','663509325503632');fbq('track','PageView');fbq('track','ViewContent',{content_name:'Reece James&#8217; father says there&#8217;s a free agent who&#8217;d be &#8216;really good&#8217; for Chelsea',content_category:'Transfer News',content_ids:(378456,\"john-stones\"),content_type:'post',});},3000);}}<\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Add as preferred source on Google Chelsea\u2019s business is not done after the Maxence Lacroix&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}