Pochettino shatters Liverpool plans as potential ‘great’ young Chelsea star will ‘continue with us’ | OneFootball

Levi Colwill wearing his U21 Euros medal following trophy win

Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed that young defender Levi Colwill will “continue with” Chelsea, as the boss detailed how he feels he can be “one of the greatest centre-backs in England”.

The Blues have cultivated a reputation for allowing potential stars to leave the club before they’ve been able to truly show their potential. Perhaps the most famous example was Kevin De Bruyne, who has been one of the Premier League’s best players for years at Manchester City, after being given little chance to thrive at Stamford Bridge.

Of late, the likes of Marc Guehi, Tariq Lamptey and Tino Livramento have all been allowed to depart the club in order to move to other Premier League outfits.

Colwill might have been another player Chelsea made a mistake in allowing to leave. They have seemingly been entertaining the idea of selling the defender, with rival side Liverpool ‘confident’ in signing him and ‘ready to make an offer’.

Since then, an injury to fellow centre-back Wesley Fofana tainted the Reds’ hopes of snaring him. Whether or not that has made a difference is unclear, but Chelsea boss Pochettino seems unequivocal in his view on the defender’s departure.

“We don’t need to make a statement about nothing,” Pochettino told Sky Sports.

“He’s our player and he’s going to continue with us.”

While that might not seem a big statement from the manager’s point of view, it is. It shows a faith in youngsters that his club have largely not shown in the past, and could allow Colwill to become a great player.

After seeing him perform in a pre-season game against his short-term employers from last season, Brighton, it seems that’s the hope for him.

“I am happy with him, his performance was good today, better than what I expected because it’s only the first game with us after the season in Brighton,” Pochettino added.

“But I think he can be one of the greatest centre-backs in England.”

A good spell with the Seagulls last season gave the centre-back a taste of Premier League football. A full campaign at Chelsea could allow him to realise his potential, and perhaps show Pochettino if he’s right to put such high hopes on the 20-year-old.

Crucially, not selling him to Liverpool means the Blues aren’t strengthening a rival side, something they may well have done a few times already this summer, allowing Kai Havertz, Mason Mount and Mateo Kovacic to leave for Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City, respectively.

Chelsea Levi Colwill