Rio Ferdinand has raved about the individual quality of Chelsea youngster Levi Colwill, who’s currently enjoying a season-long loan at Brighton in the Premier League.
Levi Colwill, who’s just 20, seems to be the latest academy star off the Chelsea production line at Cobham.
The left-footed centre-back looks the part in Brighton’s line-up when he plays this campaign and was superb during their 3-0 win over Arsenal at the weekend.
Many Blues supporters are hopeful he’s in line for a first-team breakthrough at Stamford Bridge next season.
Ferdinand has explained why he thinks Colwill might be the best young centre-back on Chelsea’s books, ranking him above the likes of Wesley Fofana and Benoit Badiashile.
Fofana was a £70million (BBC) signing from Leicester City last year. Meanwhile, Badiashile cost £35million (BBC) to sign from Monaco in January.
Ferdinand prefers Colwill over both, though.
Speaking about Colwill on FIVE’s YouTube channel, Ferdinand said: “They are not going to sell him. I think Colwill is the best one they’ve got. I think he’s better than Fofana. I think he’s better than Badiashile.
He’s gone to Brighton, his team is higher than Chelsea, and he’s playing unbelievably well in that team. Did you see the way he was slapping the ball about yesterday [against Arsenal]?
“This season, Collwill has been better than Fofana and Badiashile. 100 per cent.”
It’s going to be very interesting to see if Colwill is ready to push for a spot in the Chelsea XI.
90min recently claimed that Mauricio Pochettino will make room for Colwill in the Blues squad at Stamford Bridge next season.
He’s got all the traits you want in a modern ball-playing centre-half, but is definitely still lacking a lot of experience at the highest level. That will come with time, though.
Chelsea are in a very fortunate position to have three extremely talented young centre-backs in Fofana, Badiashile and Colwill. We can’t wait to watch them all progress and compete against each other.