Summer signing Lauren James could finally make her Chelsea debut next month with the player having now joined in training with the full team following a period in isolated training.
The 20-year-old has been carefully managed by The Blues in recent months given her bad luck with injuries at former club Manchester United but it is understood that the UEFA Women’s Champions League matches against Servette FCCF in November have been loosely earmarked to give James her first run out in a Chelsea shirt.
When speaking to FAWSL Full-Time about the prospect of James making her debut, Chelsea boss Hayes said “Lauren has started training with the team. She has done a lot of training in isolation and as I have said before, we want to keep Lauren on the pitch for the long term.
“She is back with the team, I think she will probably have another 10 days with the team and then I’ll look at some situations that we can get her out playing. The difficulty is finding the right opportunity because we’ve got Man City then we’ve got a week between this and Villa which is a league game. I could see her being involved in and around the Servette games.
“She is there or thereabouts but I have been really cautious with Lauren to make sure that the injuries that she has had prior to coming to this club are ones that don’t keep coming back, that we get everything right around her. She has had a team of people that have been helping her understand everything that she needs to know to go to the next place. While fans might feel a little impatient about it, I truly believe that in the long term, we took the right decisions for Lauren.”
When James does come into the team, she will face a fight for her place in the attacking positions with Chelsea boasting so much quality in their ranks. Hayes went on to say that the player’s first job is to learn from those world class teammates who she will hope to be playing alongside on a regular basis.
The Blues boss said “Lauren has got abilities that are very special on the ball, she is 20 years of age and she is going to be learning from the best players in the world. I think that is the starting point, how she can learn from Fran (Kirby), Pernille (Harder).
“I think she will compete in one of those forward areas. I think this whole year will be about Lauren and getting Lauren right, making an impact for the team from wherever we need her to and introducing her into the team over the course of this year, building her up progressively.
“She hasn’t had a full pre-season behind her so the fans need to be patient about that process but I have no doubt that her abilities will pay off in her tenure in this Chelsea team, she is Chelsea mad.”
James is one of two Chelsea players who won’t feature in this weekend’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup semi-final at Manchester City, Maren Mjelde is the other with the player following a similar fitness pattern.