Mauricio Pochettino has ruled out the sale of Levi Colwill because he will become “one of the greatest centre backs in England”.
Chelsea beat Brighton 4-3 in their second pre-season match in the United States, with the south coast club having made a club-record bid to sign the England U21 defender earlier this summer.
Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi even claimed Chelsea should release Colwill if they want to sign Seagulls midfielder, Moises Caicedo after a number of failed bids from Stamford Bridge.
However, Pochettino insists he won’t entertain the idea of selling his 20-year-old defender, declaring: "He is going to continue with us.
“I am happy with him, his performance was good today, better than what I expected because it is only the first game with us after the season with Brighton. I am so happy, he can be one of the greatest centre-backs in England."
The Blues won on Saturday night through goals from Christopher Nkunku, Mykhailo Mudryk, Conor Gallagher and Nicolas Jackson.
Pochettino is delighted with how his pre-season is going with matches against Fulham, Newcastle and Dortmund to come, adding: “It is about the project, it is about building a squad with the possibility to give the space that they deserve or the space that we believe they deserve.
“Then it’s about numbers, if you have a big squad with 30 senior players, it’s difficult for the young guys to get a place. It’s important if we detect that they can use the space we want to create for them, of course we are going to give them equality.
“We need to understand also we are in Chelsea. Chelsea is to win, it’s not about developing players. Of course, we are going to have few numbers of places for them with the possibility and potential to be a senior footballer in this football club.
“We need to be careful because people expect to win, when you play for Chelsea it’s about winning, it’s not about playing good football only.
“Yes, we have many young players but we need some experienced ones also. We are working really hard to add some players that can help this year also but help today and try to get what we want. In my side, and for my side I think I would love to have these places for them to help them, if we see the potential to arrive as a senior player for Chelsea.”
