Chelsea offloaded Kalidou Koulibaly earlier this window just a year on from paying big for the centre-back, but they appear to already have a replacement within their ranks in Levi Colwill.
What is the latest with Chelsea defender Levi Colwill's future?
Still aged just 20, Colwill already has two seasons of senior football under his belt, including 17 outings in the Premier League for Brighton and Hove Albion in 2022-23.
The England age-grade international, who is currently away representing his country at the U21 Euros, is returning to Stamford Bridge after his successful Brighton loan and has two years to run on his contract.
Chelsea are eager to tie the youngster down long beyond then, but Sky Sports claims that Colwill will delay making a decision until he can chat with new head coach Mauricio Pochettino about his position in the pecking order.
With other clubs interested in signing the centre-back in a potential £40m deal, including Brighton, Colwill is eager to play regular first-team football this coming season, rather than playing a support role from the substitutes' bench.
Is Levi Colwill good enough to be a Chelsea regular?
Even with Koulibaly gone, Chelsea still have as many as seven players vying for the two centre-back spots, Colwill among them. Wesley Fofana's first season in West London did not go to plan due to injury, but it looks likely he and Thiago Silva are the players Colwill will need to dislodge – not to mention Benoit Badiashile.
However, Colwill showed in his season at the Amex Stadium that he is more than capable of holding his own in a side that likes to play out from the back. Indeed, the Chelsea academy product ranks in the top 1% of all centre-backs across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for passes attempted (85.94 per 90 minutes).
As per FBref, Colwill's statistical profile has a lot of similarities with Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk. For example, Colwill completed 75.5 passes per 90 minutes in the Premier League last season, compared to 74.4 for Van Dijk.
Colwill tackled 0.29 dribblers per 90, meanwhile, compared to 0.25 for Van Dijk, while they averaged a very similar number of touches (92.9 v 91.3) and likewise for aerial duels won (71.4% v 74.2%).
The Englishman clearly has something about him, then, with Brighton boss Roberto Di Zerbi regularly praising Colwill last season.
"I would like to work with him for another two, three, four years because it's difficult to find another left centre-back with his qualities," the Italian said.
"He's a good guy who is improving a lot. This year his improvement has been fantastic, and I hope he can stay with us."
De Zerbi is unlikely to get his wish, with Pochettino – known for giving youngsters a chance to thrive – surely working on a plan to get Colwill into Chelsea's starting line-up.
Should he be given such assurances, the talented youngster – still on just £5k a week until he agrees fresh terms, according to Capology – could be Chelsea's own Van Dijk for a number of years to come.
