Levi Colwill has put thoughts about his Chelsea future on the back burner until the summer, as he focuses on helping Brighton push for Europe.
The 20-year-old is on loan at Brighton and, after two months out injured, excelled on his return in their 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on Wednesday.
Brighton hold Colwill in high regard and tried to sign him last summer during talks over the deal that saw Chelsea sign Marc Cucurella for £62million.
Speaking after Brighton beat Palace to move six points off fourth-placed Tottenham with two games in hand, Colwill insisted he is not thinking about his future beyond this season.
“I haven’t thought about it, to be honest, every day I am working hard and that’s all I am focusing on,” he said. “If I start planning for the future, then everything might not go well here and everything then changes.
“This is my main priority right now to work hard with my teammates. I have loved every minute of being here. I have learned so much even when I wasn’t playing, now I am getting minutes after coming back from injury so I can’t complain.”
Chelsea are understood to be keen to keep hold of Colwill, having paid more for Cucurella to ensure they did not lose the talented youngster permanently last summer.
The Cobham graduate will have two years left on his contract in the summer but the Blues have since signed Benoit Badiashile, who is a similar profile and age to Colwill.
Brighton are genuine contenders to qualify for Europe this season and they are also in the quarter-final of the FA Cup.
“We keep pushing and we don’t want to set a goal because we can do anything,” said Colwill. “That is what we believe and every day we are working hard to achieve these goals.
“We’ve got Grimsby now on Sunday, it is still a big game and that’s how we need to think about it to come here and win while working hard for it.”
Colwill played himself into contention for an England call-up last year. He admits making his England debut is a target for him, though he is proud to be playing for the Under-21s.
“That’s the end goal,” he said. “It would be a great honour to play for England one day. But it is also an honour to play for the Under-21s like always. You can never take that away and they will be two big games.
“I enjoy meeting up with them a lot. New faces, meeting new people and with the same end goal to win games and I like it so much.”
