Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca backed Levi Colwill to one day inherit the club captaincy as present skipper Reece James prepares to make his comeback from injury.
James has not featured since injuring a hamstring in November – the latest in a long line of fitness setbacks – but could be in from the start against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday.
His absence has left Maresca probing his young squad for leadership alternatives, but after publicly challenging his captain earlier in the season to display a more vocal personality in the role, the head coach has acknowledged there other ways in which players can take responsibility for galvanising the team.
Colwill gave a sure example of his combativeness by brawling with Wrexham’s James McClean during a pre-season friendly in the United States, but Maresca said there is more to the 21-year-old’s leadership abilities.
“You don’t judge a leader because he is fighting with someone, I was not impressed by him as a leader because of that,” said Maresca.
“But I can see day by day since we started pre-season it’s something that he can improve, he is improving a lot.
“Even if he doesn’t wear the armband, he is one of the captains. In future he could be one of the captains for this club.”
Like James, Colwill is a graduate of Chelsea’s academy and has followed a similar path into the first team and on to the England set-up, making his senior international debut in October 2023 and winning three additional caps, most recently against the Republic of Ireland in September.
By contrast, James has featured only once for England since 2022 due to injuries that have also limited him to 30 Premier League appearances in the last two-and-a-half seasons.
Maresca said in October that James, despite not being fit, had not shown the kind of leadership he expected of his captain, but ahead of the visit to Palace indicated he is happy with the way those qualities are showing through across the squad more generally.
“We have different profiles that in some way are leaders,” he said. “We have Moises (Caicedo) that behaves fantastic in that way, Enzo (Fernandez) is improving a lot, Levi is improving. Reece James is one of them in this way but he is improving. We have Tosin (Adarabioyo) who is doing that kind of job.
“We have different profiles and with age they are going to be better and better.
“Sometimes you have different kinds of leader. Sometimes you have leaders that don’t talk much but when they talk, the rest listen.”
James last played as a late substitute in the 1-1 draw against Arsenal on November 10 and Maresca opted not to bring him off the bench during Monday’s 2-0 defeat to Ipswich.
“After his last injury we tried to manage him,” Maresca said. “Since I’ve arrived I’ve tried to manage (players). Wes (Fofana) was not in the Conference League squad, Romeo (Lavia) was not there, Cole (Palmer) was not there.
“The idea was to protect these players who for different reasons needed to be protected. For Reece it’s exactly the same.”
Maresca confirmed on Friday that Fofana could miss the rest of the season with a hamstring injury while Benoit Badiashile is expected to be out until February.
