Levi Colwill is not the first Chelsea loanee to fall at Wembley in a play-off final. Mason Mount, Fikayo Tomori and Marc Guehi have seen their loans end in disappointment in the Championship showpiece. All went on to play Premier League football the next season.
At just 19 and in his first season of senior football, the Cobham product was named in Carlos Corberán's Huddersfield starting XI against Nottingham Forest, and despite his own-goal separating the sides, managed to be among the Terriers' standout players. Corberán kept his defence of the youngster simple.
“I think if he doesn’t put his foot there maybe the midfielder would have scored the goal too, so I don’t think it was an easy action for him to defend better. I think he was doing what he had to do,” he said. “Unfortunately it’s true that we could have balanced the last line a little bit better, but these things happen in football. It happened to him when he’s 19 years old because he’s playing in a final when he’s 19 years old, because he deserves to be in a final at his age.”
READ MORE: Chelsea shown how to gift Thomas Tuchel Neymar alternative with £39m Real Madrid transfer lesson
The moment may define many people's perception of Colwill but they would be wrong. The England under-21 international more than proved his credentials over the course of 90 minutes and beyond. The youngster was firmly in a battle against Brennan Johnson but generally handled himself well. It was following the full-time whistle that his wider qualities shone, however. In a situation where he good easily be down on himself for his role in the defeat, Colwill's concern was with the team.
While he was embraced by fellow youngster Ryan Schofield at Wembley, the defender could be seen comforting teammate Sorba Thomas, helping the despondent winger back to his feet. Even in the aftermath, Colwill was focused on how the team had proved pundits' predictions wrong coming into this season, rather than simply being self-consumed.
He said: "It's one of those things and we have got to keep our heads up as we have done well. We did very well this year and everyone was predicting up to get relegated. So they know nothing. This year, we have done brilliant and got to the final and were the better team."
It's little wonder his teammates believe he is destined for the top. At Wembley Lee Nicholls told Goal: “Levi will go the whole way, I feel like he will go straight to the top. I feel like he could even become England captain if he wanted to be.” Duane Holmes, who played with Tomori at Derby believes 'Levi is right up there with him'.
While a massive moment, Colwill proved that he has the maturity to move on from a setback. There may be more to come, it would not be unexpected in a young centre-backs career. However, his attitude shows he would not be perturbed about high standards that would be expected at Cobham around Chelsea's senior stars. Having the wherewithal to comfort his colleagues and also front up to the media afterwards are commendable attributes.
"I didn't know what to say but I thought f*** it. I’ve got to play on and help the team," Colwill said of this incident, "That’s what I tried to do. It was just unfortunate. It is football, bad luck, I won’t let it stop me or get my head down."
It's a mantra that could serve him well if Thomas Tuchel provides him with an opportunity for 2022/23. His ability and mentality both appear beyond his years, and Chelsea have ready-made examples that have shown the step-up may not be too much. It may not be long before his leadership can have an impact on the first-team squad.
