Chelsea are already looking ahead to next season, promoting one of the club's brightest young prospects to the first team days after he ended a loan spell in the Championship.

19-year-old defender Reece James has been brought in to train with the Chelsea's senior squad less than a week after he finished a breakthrough season-long loan at Wigan Athletic, where the young baller was selected for the Championship Team of the Season and earned Wigan's Player of the Year award.

It was the player's first ever season of senior football and it looks like his come up has rightly caught the eye of his parent club. To cap a massive season, James captained Wigan in their final game of the campaign.

https://twitter.com/reecejames69/status/1125771750078341121

James' inclusion in first team training so soon is a good indication that Chelsea see him as the latest Young Lion who can make the jump up from the academy, following in the footsteps of Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

With other impressive loanees like Tammy Abraham – who called Reece James the Championship's best player this season – due to come back into the fold at Stamford Bridge next season, the club's FIFA-imposed transfer ban could prove to be a blessing for Chelsea's new wave of homegrown ballers.