Chelsea have priceless star who can become the world's best

Robin Bairner

• 21 Feb 2024 14:23 GMT
• 11 min read

Chelsea may be searching for ways in which to raise funds, but their decision to make Levi Colwill “untouchable” is one of the best moves that Todd Boehly has made since arriving at the club.

Liverpool tried to raid Stamford Bridge for the defender last summer and PSG are reputedly interested in him this time around, yet it would make little sense for the Blues to part with a player who so perfectly encapsulates ‘Vision 2030’.

Unlike some of the players that Chelsea have richly invested in, Colwill is a star right now. And, crucially, he will only turn 21 next week.

The temptation might have been, though, for the Blues to part with him to fee up funds that could go towards strengthening other areas of the squad. Having spent lavishly over the last 18 months, the club is stretched concerning the Premier League’s sustainability rules and selling off academy players like Colwill acts as something like a cheat code to beat those.

Conor Gallagher finds himself under threat, despite having captained the side this season.

Not so Colwill, though. The centre-back, who can also play on the left of the defence, is simply too precious to let go.

Transfer expert Ben Jacobs indicated that the Blues will “auto-dismiss” any approaches for the player.

Why Colwill is priceless to Chelsea

Colwill is already central to Chelsea’s project, with data analytics experts SciSports underlining just why.

It places him among the very best players in the Premier League this season in the full-back role, while he is not far away from this elite level in the centre, where he has been used more scantly by Pochettino.

This ability to function so well in two roles is impressive, particularly for a player still building his understanding of the game at the elite level.

Colwill vs Premier League full-backs: 2023/24

In turn, this has seen Colwill’s ability grow. This is measured via his SciSkill score, which is calculated using hundreds of in-game data points. His level has seen “significant development” since the beginning of the season.

Indeed, he is currently rated as Chelsea’s fourth-best player behind Raheem Sterling, Christopher Nkunku and Moises Caicedo. This sees him classed as a “key player” already.

But what’s really exciting about Colwill has he has the ability to get better – much better.

His SciSkill potential is 137.4, which is the highest in the squad, a shade ahead of Caicedo (136.7) but miles clear of everyone else.

But to really put this into context, you have to understand the current world leaders in this role. Alessandro Bastoni of Inter is ranked as the best centre-back in the world on 127.1 followed by Manchester City pair John Stone (124.1) and Ruben Dias (121.6).

Arsenal’s Oleksandr Zinchenko gets the top score at left-back, meanwhile, with a rating of only 118.7.

In short, Chelsea have potentially the best centre-back in the world in their hands in the form of Colwill and allowed him to go would be a reckless act of long-term self-sabotage.