Levi Colwill: another homegrown prospect cast aside by the Blues | OneFootball

19-year-old centre back Levi Colwill is on the cusp of departing Chelsea on a permanent basis. The Southampton-born centre back became a part of the Chelsea Academy having been scouted playing for Sunday league side City Central FC. Colwill has now been a part of the Chelsea furniture for the best part of a decade. Yet, having invested time and money into his development, the Blues are set to let go of another high-potential starlet without kicking a ball for the senior team.

In the last couple of years, Colwill has been likened to Chelsea legend, John Terry. The 19-year-old shares similar traits, with impressive aerial prowess allied with a calmness and composure with the ball at his feet. There’s no doubt that Terry went on to become Chelsea’s most influential homegrown player ever, winning 15 major trophies and skippering the Blues for over ten years. Despite fans’ excitement over Colwill’s future at Stamford Bridge, it appears boss Thomas Tuchel is content with cashing in on him despite a glaring lack of talented defenders at present.

Why sell Colwill when centre backs are at a premium for Chelsea?

With Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rüdiger firmly out of the door, Chelsea have very few centre backs to call upon. The ageing Thiago Silva and homegrown prospect Trevoh Chalobah look like the primary options, alongside Frenchman Malang Sarr. Chalobah bucks the trend firmly in terms of academy prospects making the grade. Chalobah penned a new four-year deal last November, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2026. His contract extension was rich reward for a solid start to the 2021/22 campaign, which included a debut goal in the first game of the Premier League season.

Sure, Chelsea’s academy may well be the most profitable in the Premier League. You only have to look at the recent sales of Nathan Ake, Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori to see that the Blues are getting good money for their prospects. Although with the Blues said to be keen on buying Ake back this summer, it beggars belief that the club will effectively make a loss on a homegrown talent that was with the Blues from 2012 to 2017. But at what stage does a club like Chelsea switch off the conveyor belt of talent from Cobham to anywhere but Stamford Bridge? Is it even possible for a team like Chelsea to blood young talent with so much pressure to compete for Premier League and Champions League trophies?

Even Manchester City – the team with a bottomless pit for a budget – have shown that homegrown talent can find a way into their team. Phil Foden has cemented himself as a midfield force for the 2021/22 Premier League champions. The club also thinks highly of 19-year-old prospect James McAtee, who made two appearances in the senior side last season. It’s a similar story at City’s title rivals Liverpool, with Liverpool-born Trent Alexander-Arnold becoming one of the world’s top right backs today. Liverpool-born midfielder Curtis Jones has also become a vital squad player, with the 21-year-old making 15 appearances in the Premier League last term.

Likely destinations for Levi Colwill this summer

Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi are proof that Chelsea can bring through players successfully, even though the former looks set to leave the Blues before the start of 2022/23. For Colwill, it will be a case of what could have been at Chelsea. Leicester are said to be at the head of the queue for Colwill’s signature. The Foxes’ boss, Brendan Rodgers, is keen to reshape his backline and a £15m move for Colwill is in the offing, particularly if Caglar Soyuncu and Jannik Vestergaard depart the East Midlands club this summer. It’s been six years since the Foxes’ landed arguably the greatest underdog triumph in world football by winning the Premier League title despite being 5,000/1 rank outsiders pre-season. Rodgers is keen for City to compete again with the upper echelons, especially entry into the UEFA Conference League or Europa League.

Southampton is another potential destination for Colwill. He was born and bred in the Southampton area and a move to Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Saints would allow him to return to his roots and still play top-flight football.

Colwill has played one full season of senior football in his career to date. He was an integral figure in the Huddersfield Town defence, helping the Terriers to a Championship playoff final in May. Some might say that £15m for a player with only 29 first team starts at second tier level is too good to refuse. However, if Tuchel was to hold on to him and blood him slowly into the Blues’ backline, there’s every chance he could be worth three, four or even five times that amount in the years to come. Is the sale of hot prospects like Colwill as short-sighted in your eyes?