Bigger talent than Colwill: Chelsea already offloaded "unreal" Cobham star

Whilst Chelsea have made defensive improvements under Enzo Maresca this season, the Blues are still suffering from a very imbalanced defensive line, with players who don’t quite complement each other.

Before Wesley Fofana’s injury, he and Levi Colwill were taking positive steps towards forming a strong partnership, complementing each other’s game nicely and providing stability, familiarity and balance to the side.

However, since Fofana’s injury, Colwill has struggled with a number of different partners, who don’t quite offer the same balance next to him, which has coincided with a huge drop in form.

Levi Colwill’s recent dip in form

Colwill has made 23 appearances for the Blues this season, providing one assist, contributing to four clean sheets and totalling 2,070 minutes played.

The 21-year-old is excellent on the ball, often orchestrating build-up from the back, but isn’t the most imposing defensively, as evidenced amid his role in Brighton’s third goal last time out.

This is why Fofana was such a good partner for Colwill, often being the aggressor, attacking the ball and winning duels, whilst Colwill played more of a sweeper role, mopping up danger behind the more aggressive defenders.

In recent weeks, Colwill has made some big mistakes, often being bullied by opposition attackers, leading to shaky moments for the Chelsea defensive line.

Indeed, as per Sofascore, he’s made two errors leading to a shot in the league this season, one error leading to a goal, while also giving away a penalty.

As good as he is on the ball – as evidenced by Colwill ranking in the top 7% in the top-flight for attempted passes – the Blues could potentially have let go of a bigger talent in regards to defensive contribution.

Chelsea offloaded an “unreal” Cobham star

Chelsea sold Cobham graduate Bashir Humphreys to Burnley in the summer, joining on an initial loan deal with a mandatory buy clause, with the Exeter-born starlet only making two senior appearances during his time at Stamford Bridge.

Whilst the 21-year-old is naturally a central defender, he has played the majority of games this season at left-back, scoring one goal, providing two assists, and totalling 1,988 minutes played from 28 appearances.

Bashir Humphreys vs Levi Colwill comparison
Stats (per 90 mins)	Humphreys	Colwill
Goals + Assists	0.14	0.04
Progressive Carries	1.93	0.39
Progressive Passes	4.28	4.35
Passes Attempted	59.2	78.6
Pass Completion %	84.7%	89.5%
Passes into Final Third	3.85	4.57
Tackles	2.14	1.26
Blocks	0.86	1.13
Interceptions	1.09	1.07
Aerial Duels Won %	62.3%	60.9%
Stats taken from FBref

When comparing Humphreys and Colwill’s underlying metrics this season, you can see how good Colwill is passing out from the back, being one of his primary traits. However, Humphreys clearly ranks well in this regard too, whilst also having better progressive carry numbers and stronger defensive metrics overall.

Humphreys has been described as “unreal” in the past by analyst Nathalia Tavares when referencing his talent and potential, and the 21-year-old is now proving himself in the Championship this season, playing a huge part of Burney’s record-breaking defensive unit – the Clarets have now racked up 11 successive clean sheets.

Whilst hindsight is a wonderful thing, Chelsea perhaps could have done with Humphreys now to add more defensive quality.

Despite Colwill being much better on the ball, the Burnley defender could have offered more grit in the backline, which may have helped Maresca’s side to deal with opposition forwards slightly better.

Having seen the likes of Marc Guehi and Fikayo Tomori go on to shine elsewhere after leaving the Bridge, perhaps the Blues may live to regret another decision with regard to the sale of Humphreys.