Chelsea centre-back Levi Colwill is full of admiration for veteran teammate Thiago Silva, labelling him "a joke". The on-loan Brighton defender has also spoken in glowing terms of Blues boss Graham Potter, despite not having spoken to him since moving to Stamford Bridge.
While his temporary deal at Brighton has been blighted with injury issues, the 20-year-old has put in a selection of impressively mature displays when given the opportunity. The Seagulls have won six of the eight Premier League games he has featured in, and could reward him with a string of matches to end this season as the south-coast outfit continue to push for a spot in next season's European competitions.
Having sustained a quad injury, Colwill missed six weeks of the campaign, but returned in an exemplary manner in the 1-0 win against Crystal Palace, before joining up with the England Under-21 camp for the latest international break. In Colwill's absence, Chelsea have spent big to upgrade their centre-backs, signing Wesley Fofana, Kalidou Koulibaly and Benoit Badiashile in the past two transfer windows, perhaps limiting his pathway to the first-team in the process.
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This is in addition to the one-year contract extension agreed with Thiago Silva in February. Among the Blues' vast defensive talent pool, it is actually Silva who Colwill rates highest, describing the 38-year-old as "a joke".
Despite that, in an interview with the Times, he was quick to point out just how good his Brighton counterparts Lewis Dunk, Adam Webster and Joel Veltman are, adding that he thought the Blues centre-backs were no better than his present colleagues. Reflecting on his loan so far, he said: "My loan spell has been a rollercoaster. At the start, I wasn’t playing as much as I’d have liked.
"Now, I’m playing and learning a lot each game, gaining my team-mates’ respect and [respect] from everyone who perhaps lost respect for me when I wasn’t playing."
Somewhat ironically, it was Potter who brought Colwill to the Amex last summer when the 47-year-old was still in charge of Brighton. Although he admitted to having not spoken to the Blues boss since he was snapped up by Chelsea, the 20-year-old was full of praise for his parent club's manager, adding: “Graham’s a great man.
"When he was here, I had loads of conversations with him; [he was] always guiding me the right way, telling me how he wants to play. I’ve not spoken with him since he left. I think he’ll start doing good things at Chelsea soon.”
Chelsea view Colwill as a long-term asset among their defensive ranks, and are reportedly planning to tie the defender down to a new long-term deal, as the Evening Standard reports. Brighton were eager to sign Colwill on a permanent basis last summer, when the two clubs were locked in talks about the sale of Marc Cucurella in the opposite direction.
However, Chelsea's determination to keep hold of the promising defender came into full effect, as they chose to pay more for Cucurella rather than agreeing to a swap arrangement. The youngster recently put discussions over his Blues future on the back burner, instead choosing to focus on helping his current side push for a place in Europe.
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