Enzo Maresca confirms Levi Colwill injury blow for Chelsea: ‘It’s a problem’ | OneFootball

Chelsea regular Levi Colwill is a doubt for the start of the Premier League season after sustaining a knock in training, with manager Enzo Maresca calling it “a problem”.

He did not elaborate on the specific issue, nor how long the Blues manager expects Colwill to be out of action for.

But the 22-year-old’s absence is a blow for Chelsea ahead of their Premier League opener against Crystal Palace in just over a week’s time.

“We had a problem the last two days with Levi Colwill, that we don’t know how long he is going to be out,” Maresca said in a press conference on Thursday. “So for us, we will see, hopefully not too long, but for sure it’s a problem for us.

“We need to wait, we don’t know yet [what the specific injury is]. It was in the first session on Monday, just in the last minutes of the session. He felt something and, as I said, we need to wait and then we see.”

The England international has become a fixture in Maresca’s squad and was pivotal to their fortunes last season, scoring the decisive goal on the final day of the campaign against Nottingham Forest to seal the Blues’ place in the Champions League this term.

Maresca added that Chelsea may need to target a potential back-up option for Colwill in the remaining weeks of the transfer window, which closes on 1 September.

“It depends. We need to wait and then we see. But, as I said, we know each other from last year and, you know in our way, how important Levi has been.

“I spoke with him yesterday and I told him that if we achieve what we achieved last year, it is also because of him - and he was a main player for us.”

Maresca’s Club World Cup winners next play a friendly against Bayer Leverkusen on Friday.