Huge Chelsea news: £40M rated defender ‘pushing’ to get summer deal done

Levi Colwill will push to leave CHELSEA unless he is guaranteed playing time by new manager Mauricio Pochettino.

The England U21 international centre-back has made 21 appearances for Brighton and the south coast club are looking to sign him in a permanent deal, although they face competition from Liverpool, City and Spurs.

It has also been claimed that Chelsea are willing to give him a chance in the side next season – but Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Brighton are now preparing a record £40m bid for Colwill after seeing their first offer rejected last week.

Now – talkSPORT understands that the Seagulls are hoping they can change that by using Colwill in the deal to let Moises Caicedo head the other way.

And this may sway the Stamford Bridge hierarchy, with Mauricio Pochettino interested in bringing Caicedo to the club after missing out on Sporting Lisbon’s Manuel Ugarte

Colwill recently admitted he is absolutely loving life at Brighton and is keen to repay the faith they have put in him.

‘Brighton have done a lot for me,’ Colwill told The Athletic. ‘They put their trust in me when others didn’t and I’m a person that loves to repay that. We’ll see.

‘I don’t know what is going to happen (at Chelsea). I’m still here until the end of the season.

‘I just focus on that, then I’ve got the Euros (Under-21 European Championship with England) in the summer. After that, we’ll see what happens and go from there.’

Quizzed more generally about his time at Brighton and the club’s playing style, Colwill added: ‘It’s obviously tough work. I was blowing out of my arse!

‘But apart from that I do enjoy it. It’s aggressive. It’s showing you want to win the ball back as fast as possible. When you do you hear the fans roar. It’s an amazing feeling and you want to do it again. It’s aggressive and I love it.

‘The changing room is the biggest part. These players are amazing. They are there for you, to put an arm around you, to give you advice, to tell you off. It’s just a perfect balance and I appreciate it so much.

‘As a young player, for all of us, for everyone in the changing room, this is what’s going to take us to the next level.

‘People just being on us every day, that’s what you need. I might not have liked it at the start of the season, or last year (when he was on loan at Huddersfield in the Championship).

‘I’d be thinking, ‘Why are these players always on to me?’, but I came to the realisation that I want them to be onto me, because it shows they care.

‘I appreciate that so much. I’d never take that away from anyone. When they care, every day, it’s only going to improve you. I just love it.’

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