‘I made him’… Claude Makelele says he was the one who converted 24-year-old Chelsea player into a defender

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Chelsea legend Claude Makelele spent four years at the club as a technical mentor to young players.

He worked with a lot of talent, including Trevoh Chalobah, who is now a member of Chelsea‘s senior squad.

Chalobah started off as a midfielder, and Claude Makelele has now told The Athletic in an interview that he was the man behind his move to central defence.

The 24-year-old played there in Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Brentford over the weekend.

Mauricio Pochettino has used a back four this season but decided to employ a back three at the Gtech Community Stadium instead because of how tired his midfielders were from previous games, making room for Chalobah to come into the side.

Claude Makelele converted Trevoh Chalobah into a centre-back

Makelele helped Chalobah to see that he was better suited to a central defensive role than a midfield one.

“One example is Trevoh Chalobah, who was playing as a midfielder,” the former France international said. “I made him understand he was not a midfielder — you need to play behind [in defence], because that allows you to see the game. So we talked a lot.

“He tried one time and he said he was comfortable like this and he started making his way.”

Trevoh Chalobah a versatile footballer

Chalobah may now be a centre-half, but midfielder is obviously a position the Chelsea man can play as well.

The former England U21 international has also played at right-back during his career, so he is quite a versatile footballer.

It is one reason why Chelsea should perhaps consider keeping him. But with the club possessing a lot of good centre-back options, game time will probably be limited for Chalobah next season.

Recent injuries to Thiago Silva and Benoit Badiashile have given him an opportunity in the Chelsea first team, though, and the chance to show Pochettino that he is good enough to remain in his squad for the 2024/25 campaign.