Reece James has been at Chelsea since the age of six years old.
He made his Under-18 debut against West Ham United in March 2016 and captained the Under-18’s to a record fifth successive FA Youth Cup.
James was even named the club’s Academy Player of the Year in 2018.
As his first move into professional football, James was sent on loan for this season to Wigan Athletic.
A Championship club having earned promotion last season, it may have been expected that James would have to wait on the bench for his opportunity.
But that wasn’t the case at all.
Latics boss Paul Cook showed his faith in the Chelsea youngster and has played him in every game so far.
And James has excelled given the playing time, and was named as Wigan’s Player of the Month for September.
He has shown extreme maturity and compose to excel in his first move away from Stamford Bridge.
And with uncertainty at the right-back position for Chelsea, fans are hopeful that James will be given a chance when he returns.
So, here’s how Chelsea fans took the news of James’ award:
https://twitter.com/EMG_38/status/1047365500370653185
https://twitter.com/Bluecarefree/status/1047183887129092097