Chelsea have reportedly turned down a £30 million offer from Brighton & Hove Albion to sign young defender Levi Colwill on a permanent basis this summer.
According to Daily Mail, Brighton & Hove Albion have made their opening bid worth a reported £30 million to sign Levi Colwill permanently from Chelsea. The Blues are understood to have outright rejected the proposed bid from the Seagulls, insisting the 20-year-old defender is not for sale at any cost.
A Chelsea academy product, Colwill arrived at Brighton on loan last summer after spending a year on loan at Championship side Huddersfield Town during the 2021/22 season. He had an impressive stint at the Championship outfit, making 29 league appearances while scoring two goals and assisting one.
Widely considered by coaches and scouts to be emerging as the best young left-footed English centre-back, Colwill has lived up to his billing and has blossomed into a key figure since joining the Seagulls last summer, making 22 appearances to help them secure a spot in the next season’s Europa League.
Brighton boss De Zerbi has made no secret of the fact that he wants to sign the defender in a permanent deal after his impressive loan spell this season. But Chelsea are adamant he is going nowhere.
The 20-year-old, who sees his contract at Stamford 8Bridge expiring in 2025, is yet to make his senior debut for the West London club. However, the Blues seem intent on holding onto the wonderkid and are keen for him to be part of the first-team squad next season despite interest from Liverpool and Manchester City.
New Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino is a big fan of the 20-year-old wonderkid and sees him as part of his future plans. The former PSG and Tottenham boss is likely to revert to playing with a back four, as he did throughout the majority of his time at Tottenham Hotspur. So he will need athletic, ball-playing centre-backs to play the system.
Chelsea are also planning a mass clear-out this summer that could see veteran defender Kalidou Koulibaly offloaded. The Senegalese defender has failed to make an impact at Stamford Bridge during his debut season and is on massive wages.
With Koulibaly’s best years likely behind him, he may well become one of the victims of Chelsea’s bloated squad and reckless transfer spending and be moved on come the summer window. So it makes sense to keep Colwill around, and integrate him alongside the likes of Thiago Silva, Benoit Badiashile, Wesley Fofana, and Trevoh Chalobah as central defensive options for next season.
At the same time, Todd Boehly is planning to give Pochettino a healthy summer transfer budget. Pure profit can be obtained by selling homegrown stars such as Colwill, Mount, and Conor Gallagher, which will help balance Chelsea’s financial books ahead of the FFP deadline on June 30.
It will be interesting to see how they respond if a sizable offer of about £50 million is made. However, Brighton’s £30 million bid matches their club-record deal for Joao Pedro, who has already agreed to join them from Watford. And they are unlikely to go over the top to land their target.
