If there's someone that may be looking forward to the upcoming round of Carabao Cup matches less than two weeks before the first match of the World Cup then it's Levi Colwill.
The Chelsea starlet has played 101 minutes of senior football since joining Brighton over the summer. He nearly joined permanently as part of a parallel deal to Marc Cucurella going to Stamford Bridge but Todd Boehly was determined to keep him, even if Thomas Tuchel wasn't.
For Colwill the deal made a lot of sense. He was one of the best performing centre-backs in the Championship last season as an 18-year-old experiencing his first taste of men's football. Now it looks like time wasted.
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Albeit the caveat is that Graham Potter - who was part of the group keen to sign him - left the Seagulls four matches into the league season, he'd still only been a substitute in one game, and that was in stoppage time. He has since had to impress new manager Roberto De Zerbi and, as a loanee, has the task of convincing him of the benefits to playing a loan player.
There is irony and frustration for Colwill beyond Potter's move and his unfortunate circumstances. Chelsea nearly allowed him, Trevoh Chalobah and Cesar Azpilicueta to leave over the summer. If they'd have signed Joska Gvardiol then at least one of Chalobah or Azpilicueta would have gone. Now, Potter only has five fit defenders. If Colwill had stayed, he'd have played by default over the past six weeks.
The whole idea of his move was to get more than just rotation minutes though, it was to build a bank of top-flight minutes the talented youngster could move from. Even if he plays every minute of the league season from now on he won't get as many as he managed on loan at Huddersfield last season. He's played more for England Under-21s than for Brighton.
His current side face Arsenal in the Carabao Cup tomorrow and it's almost last chance saloon, really. De Zerbi has stated that his side are fully fit, but also said, "It will be a good test, we will treat it seriously. It's a very important game. I can make some changes but it's just as important as a Premier League game, we will try to win."
Brighton have had to play much less than Chelsea over the past month, so their squad is fresher and in less need of rotation, but if Colwill isn't playing in this tournament then he isn't achieving enough away from Chelsea. The good news is that with the World Cup around the corner it does provide a chance for Colwill to hold serious talks over his future with Chelsea as January approaches.
Chelsea do have a number of players' futures to decide and the World Cup will hold some answers in this regard. Christian Pulisic is another who will have eyes on impressing potential suitors, he could be one discussing moves in the winter.
Colwill will also surely have to have his own talks with Potter and the backroom staff at Chelsea that sounded him out as a good option at Brighton in the first place.
Arsenal made their own choice to hand William Saliba a Premier League debut after the Frenchman impressed on loan in Ligue 1. Saliba is older and has two years of top flight experience away from London first, but he was still trusted this season and Mikel Arteta has reaped the rewards. It may be a blueprint Chelsea follow.
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