20-year-old Levi Colwill seems to have the world at his feet after an extremely successful 22/23 campaign. The young centre-back broke into Brighton’s starting 11 last season following a loan move from Chelsea and looked mightily impressive. He then topped it off by winning the 2023 U21 European Championships with England. High-level performances have seen Colwill linked with multiple big clubs, including Liverpool, and a potential permanent move back to Brighton. With speculation surrounding the young star’s future, we delve into his player profile and what he can do to achieve his potential!
Following a fantastic campaign in 21/22 in the Championship with Huddersfield, Chelsea sought out a Premier League loan for the youngster, and Brighton was seen as the most viable suitor. Despite struggling to break into the team under Graham Potter, Colwill was eventually given a run in the team under new manager Roberto De Zerbi, who was impressed by his maturity, composure when defending, and his ball-playing ability.
Colwill became a mainstay in the Brighton team that secured European football for the first time in their history. His intelligence and understanding of the game were exceptional, and his ability to break the lines and show composure when on the ball became integral to how Brighton wanted to start their attacks.
Fast forward to the summer, and while many of his teammates were heading on their holidays, Colwill was taking part in the U21 Euros with England. He became a stalwart in the defense, not conceding a goal throughout the tournament and winning 100% of his aerial duels in 4 of the games, maintaining an 85% success rate overall.
A moment that epitomized the youngster’s ball-playing ability was against Israel. In the latter stages of the first half, Colwill picked up the ball on the halfway line and was looking to play one of his line-splitting passes, but none of the opposition players would press him. Instead, they sat off, picked up all players, and tried to eliminate any of his options. This created a bizarre moment as the game came to a standstill for almost a whole minute, with Colwill holding onto the ball and nobody moving around him. This shows that even at a young age, opposition teams are willing to devise plans to prevent him from playing these passes, which can immediately put a team on the back foot and be devastating. If there was ever a moment that indicated somebody would become a superstar, this was it.
With left-footed ball-playing centre-backs in high demand, Colwill has attracted major attention. Brighton had a £35m bid rejected for him, while Liverpool and Tottenham remain interested in the “new Virgil Van Dijk.” Chelsea has reiterated that they have no interest in selling the youngster. However, with Benoit Badiashile, and Marc Cucurella, all relatively young and playing in the same role as Colwill, perhaps he would need to seek a move elsewhere to continue his development,
At the same time there might be an opportunity at centre back with Chelsea recently confirming that Wesley Fofana could potentially be ruled out for the remainder of the season. Colwill has said that he would only stay at Chelsea if he received assurances over his game time but may need to follow in the footsteps of other Cobham graduates, such as Mason Mount, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Fikayo Tomori, and Tammy Abraham, who all sought new challenges to continue their development. However, he could also look towards Reece James as an example, who displaced mainstay Cesar Azpilicueta after taking a career path similar to the one Colwill is on now, using the Chelsea loan system to its full benefits. Despite the current uncertainty over his future, Colwill looks an exciting prospect, and whichever club he decides to be at will have a gem on their hands.
Do you think he should stay at Chelsea or find a different challenge? Let us know! @Benchviews_ on Twitter.