LEVI COLWILL had a turbulent beginning to his season-long loan at Brighton but emerged grateful for the experience which developed his undoubted talent as a ball-playing defender.

After only one training session with his Albion teammates, the Chelsea loanee was sent on as a sub in the dying minutes of the 2022-23 season opening day 2-1 win against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

“It was a surreal experience,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting to come on because I had just arrived, I wouldn’t have put me on if I was the manager!”

That manager was Graham Potter of who Colwill said: “Graham has watched me play, so he knows what I am about. I have watched Brighton quite a few times so I know how they like to approach games. I understand the football.

“It suits me and compliments how I play. The gaffer said to me ‘Come in and play your own game and you’ll be fine’. I trust him and that’s a big reason why I came here.”

However, within a few short weeks, there was a new man calling the shots and the young defender initially found it difficult to work with him.

Colwill admitted in one interview: “We didn’t get on at first. He broke me, broke my character. But then he built me up again and he’s like a father figure to me now. He’s amazing.”

In an interview with Andy Naylor of The Athletic, he explained: “It’s been tough because he (De Zerbi) plays a lot different to what I’ve been used to. But he’s a great manager, the way he plays will help everyone in the team look so good. I’m happy to play under him.

“As a centre-half, he expects a lot more from you, taking time on the ball, finding the right pass, being in control of the game. It’s a lot different, for example, to when Graham was here. It’s more pass, pass. But you’ve got to learn. It’s only going to help me when I’m older.”

After making his first Premier League start in a home defeat to Aston Villa, Colwill confessed:

“It’s been tough so far, but I’ve enjoyed every minute. The tough aspect has been learning new playing styles, a new manager coming in, things like that. But it’s going to help me in the future so I can’t complain.

“Once you get your head around how the new manager wants to play, it helps you understand why he does it and how it works. You’ve got to respect it.”

Colwill was also grateful to skipper Lewis Dunk, saying in a matchday programme interview: “Dunky guides me every day and he’s always giving me advice, both on and off the pitch. His presence alone helps me so much, playing alongside him.”

He added: “In games you get to see just how good he is and all the attributes he has. He should have definitely played for England a few more times because he’s a great player.”

After making 17 starts and five sub appearances as Albion finished in their highest-ever sixth spot in the Premier League, Colwill reflected in a BBC Sport interview: “It was an amazing year. I learnt so much as a player, a man.

“It was tough for me every single day but I I’m so happy for everything I went through. Ups and downs, I’ve learnt so much as a person and a player and I’m just grateful for that opportunity.”

He said playing under De Zerbi was different to most other managers he’d played under.

“It was perfect for me because you’re on the ball,” he explained. “As a defender, you start the attack and that’s what I want to be seen as and I really enjoyed it.

“He definitely gives you confidence all the time. He’s always telling you how good a player you are, but when you step on that pitch you’re just like everyone else, no matter how good you are.

“He’s there to make you work, for that hour or two hours you are on the pitch. You’re there to work and learn. He wants the best. He’s a perfectionist and I think that’s why Brighton did so well last season.”

De Zerbi was a great admirer of the England under 21 international, explaining: “Levi is a left-footer and it is an important quality for us because with Levi we can find different line passes, different solutions in the build-up, in the last 40 metres.”

Sadly, Albion’s qualification for European football wasn’t enough to tempt Colwill to stay and he returned to Chelsea and signed a new six-year contract. Before long, he followed up his Euro Under 21 Championship success with young England that summer with a full England cap, making his debut in a friendly against Australia that October.

Two months later, Colwill scored his first Chelsea goal …against Brighton! Although Conor Gallagher saw red that day, the 10-man home side held out to win 3-2 at Stamford Bridge. Albion’s two goals came from players who also went on to wear Chelsea blue: Facundo Buonanotte and Joao Pedro!

Born in Southampton on 26 February 2003, by his own admission in a July 2025 interview with The Athletic, he said: “Football is all I know. I grew up as an underprivileged kid.”

It has prompted him to put money into Southern League Premier South side Sholing FC, who he used to watch as a youngster. “I came to Sholing FC games and enjoyed them,” he told Simon Johnson. “It made me happy and made me want to become a footballer.

Interviewed at a pre-season game between Sholing and a team of Chelsea youngsters, he said: “It’s not just about Sholing FC. I want to help as many underprivileged kids as possible.

“If I can help bring a load of kids to come down to an event like this, to enjoy being here, to fall in love with the game, that can change their lives. They can perhaps do something else rather than being on the streets. That’s the main reason.”

He continued: “I also did something when I was on holiday in Trinidad. I organised a training session out there with some kids who were all from my grandma’s local area.

“My nan flew out with me. A few hundred people turned up. We bought the goals and so on out of my back pocket, just to give them something else to enjoy. Doing this drives me. I want to leave a legacy and have people be proud of me.”

The eight-year-old Colwill was playing for Sunday team City Central FC alongside Jamal Musiala (now at Bayern Munich) when the pair were picked up by Chelsea. “He was definitely one of my best friends,” Colwill told goal.com. “We went up together for our Chelsea trial. We have just done everything together.

“We keep in touch still now and he is a good mate. It is amazing to see what he has achieved so far.”

Colwill worked his way through the different age groups at Chelsea and signed his first professional contract aged 17. He spent the 2021-22 season on loan to Huddersfield Town in the Championship and was unlucky enough to score an own goal – the only goal of the game – as the Terriers lost to Nottingham Forest in the play-off final at Wembley.

Having played 75 Premier League games for Chelsea and helped them qualify for the 2025-26 Champions League, he played in the FIFA Club World Cup in America in the summer of 2025 when Chelsea beat PSG 3-0 in the final.

But the following month, his knee gave way towards the end of Chelsea’s first pre-season training session at Cobham and a scan confirmed he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament, which ruled him out for seven months of the 2025-26 season. At the time of writing, although he had resumed training, no date had been set for him to return to first team action.

Writing about the setback for The Athletic, Liam Twomey said: “Colwill’s unflappable assurance was critical to the team’s success in playing out from the back through intense pressure.

“Put together, it is a rare, coveted skill set for a centre-back, which is why Liverpool and Brighton & Hove Albion tried hard to prise Colwill away from Stamford Bridge in the weeks before he signed a new long-term contract in the summer of 2023.

“It is also why Chelsea rebuffed all advances and always insisted they considered him untouchable, as he has been ever since.”