Leicester and Southampton are interested in signing Levi Colwill, with the centre-back ready to seek a fresh challenge if there is no prospect of breaking into the first team at Chelsea.
Colwill is one of Chelsea’s best young talents and wants regular football after an impressive loan at Huddersfield last season. The 19-year-old’s situation has alerted several clubs and there is likely to be a scramble for his signature if he decides to leave.
Chelsea’s search for centre-backs to replace Antonio Rüdiger and Andreas Christensen could influence Colwill’s thinking. Thomas Tuchel is chasing Manchester City’s Nathan Aké, Juventus’s Matthijs de Ligt and Sevilla’s Jules Koundé. Aké, who could replace Rüdiger on the left of Tuchel’s back three, plays in Colwill’s position.
Leicester and Southampton are watching the situation closely. Southampton have a pattern of signing promising Chelsea youngsters – they bought Tino Livramento and loaned Armando Broja last summer – and Leicester have been tracking Colwill for a while. Leicester inquired about taking Colwill on loan in January, but Chelsea did not want to break their agreement with Huddersfield.
Colwill earned rave reviews at Huddersfield. He scored an unfortunate own goal when they lost the Championship play-off final to Nottingham Forest but his overall form was excellent.
If Colwill leaves it would continue the trend of Chelsea parting company with their most eye-catching academy products. They sold the England centre-backs Marc Guéhi and Fikayo Tomori to Crystal Palace and Milan respectively last summer. Tomori helped Milan win Serie A and Guéhi had a strong debut campaign at Palace.
