Mauricio Pochettino holds talks with Levi Colwill over Chelsea future
- Pochettino hopes to keep Colwill at Chelsea
- Premier League rivals are ready to bid for the defender if he chooses to leave
- Wesley Fofana has undergone surgery on an ACL injury
By Tom Gott
Mauricio Pochettino has revealed he held a 'nice chat' with centre-back Levi Colwill over his role at Chelsea next season.
Colwill has just returned from an excellent loan with Brighton, who are keen to sign him permanently, and has also attracted interest from Premier League rivals Liverpool and Manchester City.
Chelsea have continuously rebuffed all approaches for the 20-year-old, who wanted to speak with Pochettino before making a decision on his future. Regular minutes is the key for Colwill, who hopes to break into the senior England team next year.
That conversation has now happened, and while Pochettino refused to go into detail, he insisted he left the talk feeling positive.
"With Levi, we had a nice chat," Pochettino told a press conference. "This is private but I think it's important, they need to know us. They need to know what we think and need to know if they have the possibility to be in the starting XI.
"We are happy with all and [on Wednesday] we start the competition and to compete and that is the reality."
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Colwill will play a significant role in pre-season, with Pochettino already coping without injured defensive duo Benoit Badiashile and Wesley Fofana, the latter of whom has undergone surgery on an ACL injury.
"It’s really sad, really bad news," Pochettino said of Fofana's injury. "We feel all so sad. All we can do is help him.
"We know it’s a tough injury but we hope he can be as soon as possible with the team. We need to keep going. The competition is there, in one month we start, it doesn’t wait for anyone and we need to be ready to compete."
90min understands Chelsea are considering their options in defence and have discussed a possible loan move for Manchester United's Harry Maguire.
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