Enzo Maresca to Hold “Crunch Talks” with Levi Colwill Amid Transfer Uncertainty
Chelsea fans were entirely excited when the club announced the arrival of Fulham defender Tosin Adarabioyo on a free transfer last week, but it seems the move hasn’t went down so well with one member of Enzo Maresca’s squad. That player is Levi Colwill, who is set to hold “crunch talks” with the club following Tosin’s arrival, according to a report from TeamTalk.
The 21-year-old has already been heavily linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge, with Liverpool the current favourites to secure his signature should he decide to leave the Blues. However, it appears that the arrival of Tosin has only further complicated the future of Colwill, who wants to hold crucial talks with new boss Enzo Maresca amid concerns over his potential playing time.
Chelsea’s Stance
When it comes to the future of Levi Colwill, Chelsea have always maintained the same stance – that Colwill is not for sale. However, with recent PSR struggles the club are expected to move on a number of homegrown talents in order to build up some “pure profit”.
The likes of Conor Gallagher and Trevoh Chalobah have been mostly linked with a move away from the club, but the club could reportedly make a dramatic U-Turn that could see Gallagher remain at the club. This would in turn make the departure of Colwill more likely, but with the club already losing Thiago Silva, it remains unlikely at this stage.
Colwill’s Stance
In contrast, Colwill seems extremely eager to secure a guarantee of regular first-team football, which is where all of this has stemmed from. The 21-year-old made 32 appearances across all competitions for the Blues last season, but just 23 of those came in the Premier League.
Colwill’s recent rejection from even England’s provisional EURO 2024 squad is thought to be a stark reminder of the need to be playing every week in the Premier League. Despite previously being very highly rated by Southgate, the likes of Marc Guehi, Jarrad Branthwaite and Jarell Quansah have all surpased the Chelsea defender in his plans.
However, with the departure of Silva, whilst Chalobah and Axel Disasi could follow, surely Colwill will be in line to increase that game time further in the 2024/25 season. There’s also a worthy argument that Colwill likely wouldn’t improve on those numbers should he move to Liverpool – his most likely destination.
As a left-footer, Colwill would be in direct competition with Virgil Van Dijk, which isn’t even worth the discussion at this point.
Potential Fee
Should Colwill decide to push for a move this summer, he is expected to cost around £50million, which could push away a fair amount of potential suitors. With that being said, Liverpool are definitely interested in the youngster and I think would be willing to pay that amount after maintaining that interest for multiple years now.
As much as Chelsea wouldn’t want to see Colwill leave, that £50million could be enough to ease the pressure on selling Conor Gallagher who has been really impressive over the past 18 months. These crunch talks will undoubtedly prove pivotal in Colwill’s final decision, but either way Levi Colwill is definitely a player to keep an eye on this summer amid Chelsea’s financial struggles.
