Trevoh Chalobah has opened up on a conversation he had with Thomas Tuchel last summer that led to him staying at Chelsea this season. The 22-year-old has been a key part of the Blues' back-line so far this term, vindicating his decision to remain at Stamford Bridge.
Chalobah spent the 2020/21 campaign on loan at French club Lorient and was maybe expecting to be loaned out once again by Chelsea, but Tuchel used the defender plenty in pre-season. He was then handed a start in the Premier League opener against Crystal Palace, where he capped off a fine display with a superb long-range strike.
Now, Chalobah has detailed a conversation he had with Tuchel after the aforementioned match where his short-term future was decided. He told the club's official website: "Coming back [from Lorient] knowing I had done well, all I wanted to do was keep myself fit.
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"I didn't know what I was doing when I came back, I didn't know if I would go back out on loan. From there I got a bit of confidence, and I started to try even harder.
"Then the Super Cup comes, and I'm just like 'wow'. Even then, I was taking every training and every game as it comes. The manager spoke to me after the Crystal Palace game and said it would be better for me to stay here rather than go out on loan, to learn from Thiago Silva, [Antonio] Rudiger and all of the other players around me."
Chalobah had seen some of his Chelsea academy team-mates, such as Mason Mount and Reece James, make the step up to the first-team and he revealed that was what kept motivating him on his journey. "That was my motivation," Chalobah added.
"I watched all the Chelsea games where Mase and Reece were playing under [Frank] Lampard. I would rush home to watch the games. Seeing them play for Chelsea is massive.
"I played with them throughout all of the age groups and then I was seeing them play on television. Training with those two just brought back the days when I was training with them back in the academy days, so yes, it made me feel confident and relaxed."
