Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand believes Chelsea youngster Levi Colwill is already better than Wesley Fofana and Benoit Badiashile, insisting Erik ten Hag's side have no chance of signing him. Colwill has enjoyed an impressive loan spell with Brighton this season and was praised for his recent performance in the 3-0 win against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
Chelsea opted to loan the young defender out last summer before signing Wesley Fofana, Kalidou Koulibaly and Benoit Badiashile in the last 12 months. The 20-year-old talent has helped the Seagulls keep five clean sheets in 21 appearances this term and is set to return to Stamford Bridge this summer.
Mauricio Pochettino is said to be 'excited' about the prospect of working with Colwill and is planning to rebuild his Chelsea team around the youngster - along with Badiashile, Reece James, Ben Chilwell and N'Golo Kante. The Blues will be hoping that, after a brilliant season with Brighton, Colwill snubs interest from Manchester City and Liverpool this summer to remain at Stamford Bridge and become a regular first-team player.
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Roberto De Zerbi has clearly enjoyed working with the young defender this term and is hoping to take him on loan, or a permanent deal, this summer. When asked about Colwill’s future at the Amex Stadium, De Zerbi said : “I would like to work with him [Colwill] for another two, three, four years.
“It’s difficult to find a another centre-back, left centre-back, with his quality. He’s a good guy, I think he’s improving a lot.
"This year his improvement has been fantastic. I hope he can stay with us.”
Ferdinand has claimed that United have no chance of poaching Colwill from their Premier League rivals with Ten Hag looking for a new centre-back to add to his squad, as per reports. Asked whether United could make a move for the 20-year-old this summer, Ferdinand told FIVE: "We [United] ain't getting him, he's at Chelsea - they ain't going to sell him.
"I think he is the best one they’ve got at Chelsea. He’s better than Fofana and I think he’s better than Badiashile. Have you seen the way he is playing for Brighton? He has gone to Brighton, his team is higher than Chelsea.
"He is playing unbelievably well in that team. Did you see the way he was slapping that ball around yesterday [on Sunday against Arsenal]?
"This season, Colwill has been better than Fofana and Badiashile. 100%."
Speaking back in March, Colwill put discussions over his future with Chelsea on the back burner, instead choosing to focus on helping his current side push for a place in Europe. "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 after Brighton's 1-0 win over Crystal Palace.
"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."
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