Reece James has had his fair share of injury struggles throughout his career. Last season, the Chelsea player made just 19 Premier League appearances after struggling with multiple hamstring problems.
In this campaign, James has featured in all 11 of Chelsea's league games, but has only completed 90 minutes in six of them. Enzo Maresca does have another quality right-back in Malo Gusto, who started and scored the Blues' 3-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers just before the international break.
The England manager, Thomas Tuchel, put his faith in James as he played 90 minutes in their 2-0 win over Serbia. He was then rested in the Three Lions' final World Cup qualifier against Albania. Tuchel played Jarell Quansah instead in a much-changed lineup.
James is set to be England's starting right-back at the World Cup next summer. This is especially as Trent Alexander-Arnold is suffering injury problems during the early days of his Real Madrid career.
The Chelsea captain has not missed a club game this season due to injury. The fact that Tuchel gave James 90 minutes against Serbia proves that he is not worrying about the player's fitness. Perhaps his club manager, Maresca, should do the same.
Does Reece James need to be rested as much as he is?
James was rested for both of Chelsea's EFL Cup matches this season. Whilst he was also left on the bench for the club's 5-1 thrashing of Ajax in the Champions League.
Tuchel knows what James can do, as he was part of his Chelsea side that won the Champions League during the 2020/21 season. Without that victory on his CV, Tuchel may not be the England manager now.
The German was brought in to win the World Cup next summer. He is only England's third foreign manager after Sven-Göran Eriksson and Fabio Capello. Eriksson and Capello both failed to win a trophy with England.
It was then widely believed that England needed an English manager. However, after Gareth Southgate managed to get to two European Championship finals without lifting the trophy, the FA turned to Tuchel to hopefully get them over the line.
So long as James stays fit and keeps performing for Chelsea, then he could be a key part of England's squad at next year's World Cup. The pressure will be on Tuchel and his players to finally end England's major trophy drought, which stretches back to 1966.