Chelsea Transfers

[Vesper 30,119]

7 minutes ago, Thor said:

Thorano Romano here. 
 

Reports remain that all deals are close with here we go to come soon! 

your new logo

[Vesper 30,119]

Levi Colwill is fundamental to Chelsea on many levels – replacing him will be tough

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6541231/2025/08/08/levi-colwill-Chelsea-injury-analysis/

If anyone needs a reminder of just how dizzyingly — and, at times, brutally — fast football moves, consider that less than two weeks ago, Levi Colwill was talking about competing for the Premier League title with Chelsea this season, and how he felt about an impending Champions League debut at his boyhood club.

“When that anthem comes on, it is going to be a dream,” he told The Athletic at a pre-season friendly between Sholing FC and Chelsea Under-18s. “I could get a bit emotional, to be honest.”

That particular dream is going to have to wait, and Colwill would only be human if he had got more than a bit emotional in the days since he felt his knee give way towards the end of Chelsea’s first pre-season training session at their Cobham HQ on Monday.

A scan confirmed he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), but footballers tend to know immediately when something is badly wrong. Enzo Maresca’s ominous words in his press conference at Cobham on Thursday left little room to avoid the conclusion that Colwill had suffered a significant injury.

“We know each other from last year, and we know how important he has been,” Maresca said. “I spoke with Levi yesterday (Wednesday) and I told him that if we achieved what we achieved last year, it’s also because of him.”

Colwill’s absence from Chelsea’s trophy celebration in front of several thousand supporters at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday provided the first public indication that something was amiss. A club statement issued on Thursday evening attempted to soften the blow while confirming the reality: “Levi Colwill has today undergone successful surgery to an anterior cruciate ligament injury.”

 

Colwill was key as Chelsea won the Club World Cup (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

There are many sentiments deployed at moments like this, most of them empty. The timing is awful for Colwill before a Chelsea season rich with promise, leading into a World Cup where he could credibly start for England. But then, there is never a good time for a footballer to tear their ACL, given the long and gruelling nature of the rehabilitation process.

For some, it will feel worse because Colwill gives every impression of being one of football’s genuine good guys, devoting his time and his money to Sholing and the new academy that bears his name, as well as organising a training session for children while on holiday in Trinidad. But good, bad or anything in between, it is always a sporting tragedy when football is deprived of an elite talent in this manner.

Many will express the belief that Colwill can emerge stronger from this, but that is a reach for reassurance rather than a reliable predictor. Even in 2025, injuries as severe as a torn ACL or ruptured Achilles can disrupt and even derail athletes’ careers. As a Chelsea player, Colwill will have every available resource to achieve a full recovery to elite competition, but there is no escaping the physical and mental challenges that lie ahead.

Perhaps the most effective source of comfort to Colwill in the coming weeks and months will be the difficulty Chelsea have replacing him.

Last season, he emerged as the foundation of Maresca’s defence, playing more than twice as many Premier League minutes as any of the other centre-backs in the squad. His recognition of defensive danger sharpened with greater experience, and he warmed to the physical demands of battling opposing strikers. He formed effective partnerships with Wesley Fofana, Tosin Adarabioyo and fellow Cobham graduate Trevoh Chalobah, adjusting subtly to fit with each.

On the ball, his ability to punch progressive passes through opposition lines gave Maresca’s patient build-up style a more direct option it desperately needed against low blocks. Colwill’s unflappable assurance was critical to the team’s success in playing out from the back through intense pressure.

Put together, it is a rare, coveted skill set for a centre-back, which is why Liverpool and Brighton & Hove Albion tried hard to prise Colwill away from Stamford Bridge in the weeks before he signed a new long-term contract in the summer of 2023. It is also why Chelsea rebuffed all advances and always insisted they considered him untouchable, as he has been ever since.

Then there is Colwill’s strength of personality, which always stood out in one of the youngest squads ever assembled. No other regular Chelsea starter could be relied upon so consistently to field questions from the media after a match, win, lose or draw, and few others were as loud or outwardly forceful on the pitch.

Within the squad, there are no easy solutions. Tosin and Chalobah have both grown in stature and performance in this Chelsea squad in recent months, but are untested as a partnership in the Premier League. Benoit Badiashile has not proven as reliable as Colwill despite being regarded as a close to equivalent talent when he arrived from Monaco in January 2023.

 

Maresca has a headache in defence (David Ramos/Getty Images)

Fofana is arguably Chelsea’s most gifted defender, but the 24-year-old has also spent much of his time at Stamford Bridge on the sidelines. Summer signing Jorrel Hato has some similarities to Colwill in profile — left-footed, elegant on the ball, shorter but faster — but elevating the 19-year-old to the status of Premier League starting centre-back so soon would be a big call. The same could be said of another 19-year-old, Josh Acheampong, who Maresca has generally preferred to pick at right-back.

What You Should Read Next

Chelsea are back in pre-season training. What issues must Enzo Maresca address?

The FIFA Club World Cup winners had three weeks off but must now rediscover their rhythm and integrate new arrivals in double-quick time

The transfer market will always be a consideration for Chelsea at a time like this, but any exploration must be tinged with wariness of radically altering the dynamic at the heart of Maresca’s defence for the long term. Until he went down this week, Colwill was a fundamental component of the core that is powering the team’s sharp upward trajectory.

Any defensive plan that Chelsea decide upon in what remains of August must allow for the desired scenario that Colwill is fundamental again as soon as he returns.

[OhForAGreavsie 6,067]

3 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

This is good technique tho 

 

We'd all agree though that such things play no part when assessing a player.

[OhForAGreavsie 6,067]

2 hours ago, Vesper said:

Fofana sell
Colwill out for the year. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Hato need to see him play LCB and not LB, he looked a big baller at LB tonight
Tosin keep
Chalobah keep
Disasi sell
Acheampong keep
Badiashile sell ASAP

 

were were already looking at a new RCB BEFORE Levi destroyed his knee (not gonna lie, I fear for his career, I am in dismay ever since I found out he was fucked 😿)

so we deffo need to now buy a LCB as if we only would have one lefty on my list above, Hato, and he is more of a LB than a LCB

Guehi is right-footed, BUT prefers to play at LCB

and he is also good at (of course) RCB

he kills 2 birds with one stone

wild card is Veiga

 

 

 

Marc also has the advantage of being way more affordable than Murillo who would be my preference if money was no object. I think coughing up for the Brazilian might be unaffordable under uefa regulations.

[OhForAGreavsie 6,067]

3 hours ago, Vesper said:

there HAS to be more to this story than meets the eye

Renato was really strong at LCB for Juve

I do not see why Maresca does not want him AT ALL, especially now with Colwill out for the year

I so so want to know WHY

Might be more to do with personality than performance. Given that Enso has silenced his critics, including the daily clamour from some here for him to be sacked, the club will require a complete climb down by Veiga before  changing their stance. As far as can be judged from what we've seen play out, that doesn't seem likely.

It's a fair guess that Veiga's idea about where he wants to play is at the heart of the problem because Maresca wants to impose a 'you'll play where I ask you to play' regime. If sacrificing Veiga is what it takes for the club to demonstrate its backing of the manager then that's what will happen. 

Edited 16 hours ago by OhForAGreavsie

[OhForAGreavsie 6,067]

3 hours ago, Vesper said:

That photo must be from the second leg of the 2018 FA Youth Cup Final. One of my favourite Chelsea performances ever. I sat behind one of the goals, as we totally outclassed them. Tino Anjorin's cameo as a second half substitute briefly had me believing  that he could be a star.

Edited 16 hours ago by OhForAGreavsie

[Reddish-Blue 2,495]

3 hours ago, mkh said:

Soon after Maresca told the media that Chelsea needed to strengthen the defence, he was seen in conversation with Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart.

(@NizaarKinsella) 

maresca was probably asking them "how much can we spend to meet UCL requirement" 😆

[Stats 7,142]

1 hour ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

That photo must be from the second leg of the 2018 FA Youth Cup Final. One of my favourite Chelsea performances ever. I sat behind one of the goals, as we totally outclassed them. Tino Anjorin's cameo as a second half substitute briefly had me believing  that he could be a star.

Hudson-Odoi was the star of the show that second leg. Amazing when you see how far some of the players in that game have come. CHO, James, Guehi, Gilmour, Gallagher, Smith-Rowe (even though he has regressed a bit) and of course Bukayo Saka who is one of the best wingers in the league.

[Bluepower777 35]

11 hours ago, TheHulk said:

Think we gonna struggle hard to get rid of Jackson and Nkunku nobody wants them, not for the fees we want anyways.

Quite right we going to be stuck with unwanted players Jackson,  Sterling, Chillwill,  Disasi unless we let them go for free virtually.

[OhForAGreavsie 6,067]

4 hours ago, Stats said:

Hudson-Odoi was the star of the show that second leg. Amazing when you see how far some of the players in that game have come. CHO, James, Guehi, Gilmour, Gallagher, Smith-Rowe (even though he has regressed a bit) and of course Bukayo Saka who is one of the best wingers in the league.

The interplay between Callum and Tino after Tino subbed on was fun to watch. I thought Saka's best moments in that final were in the first leg at The Bridge after coming on as a sub. In the second leg I felt he was petulant and ineffective. I especially enjoyed his sulking after his second half 'goal' was disallowed. 

Smith-Rowe was the star of the first half of the game at Chelsea, and Arsenal's best performer overall I felt.

[TheHulk 2,424]

[TheHulk 2,424]

 

[Strike 7,478]

24 minutes ago, TheHulk said:

 

Makes sense to go for a left footer and with a lot more ball-playing ability than Guehi 

[nyikolajevics 2,690]

27 minutes ago, TheHulk said:

 

Other targets such as...?

[xPetrCechx 13,570]

30 minutes ago, TheHulk said:

 

Any better options?...