Ben Chilwell has spoken about his delight to be called up to the 28-man England squad. The 25-year-old has enjoyed a bright start to the season at Chelsea despite having suffered a long-term which cast doubt over his Qatar World Cup chances.
The left-back has featured seven times for the Blues this season, directly contributing towards three goals. Despite the arrival of Marc Cucurella, who has posed great competition thus far, and the appointment of Graham Potter, Chilwell has reinstated his place in the Blues' starting eleven.
And he's been rewarded for his efforts. Chilwell will join the Three Lions as Gareth Southgate rallies his squad for fixtures against Italy and Germany in the UEFA Nations League.
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Speaking to the in-house Chelsea media, the Blues defender explained his joy to be back in action. He said: "Yeah, for sure I'm delighted. It's probably been over a year now since my last call-up. Obviously, I had the injury which stopped me from having the chance to play for my country in the past.
"After being out for six, seven, eight, or nine months I'm just really, really excited to get back and hopefully, I can get some game time, and it's very exciting going into the World Cup," Chilwell added. "I think everyone's going to be going there with full confidence and excitement, and everyone is looking forward to getting back together to work hard for the World Cup."
Now, Potter has been tasked with juggling both Chilwell and Cucurella ahead of the tournament, which is set to commence in November. The newly-appointed Blues boss has loyalties with the Spaniard, having enjoyed a great spell together at Brighton and Hove Albion.
In the latter stages of their tenure together at the Amex Stadium, Cucurella featured at left centre-back in a back-three. If Potter is to do so again at Stamford Bridge, then Kalidou Koulibaly faces a threat to first-team opportunities.
While Chilwell, for many, may seem the natural option at left wing-back for Chelsea, there may be internal pressure from the club's higher-ups to make use of new signings Cucurella and Koulibaly, who joined for a combined £88million. Potter has a healthy dilemma that he must solve in order to keep stakeholders, his squad and the fan base happy.
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