Kalidou Koulibaly to Chelsea will open doors for Everton to sign £4.5 million man

Everton signed James Tarkowski on a free transfer but are still looking to strengthen the defence with a number of players on their shortlist. Chelsea defender Levi Colwill was a player that was linked to the club but those links eventually died down as the Blues were set to assess the defender in pre-season and then take a decision.

Colwill spent the last season on loan at Huddersfield Town in the Championship, making 29 appearances in the second division. He played the Championship play-off final but couldn’t help the Terriers achieve promotion as it was his own goal that decided the fate of the game. The Chelsea academy player impressed many throughout the 2021-22 Championship season and many clubs including Everton sent scouts to watch the 19 year old defender.

A host of clubs had shown interest in Colwill. Everton, Arsenal, Leicester City, Southampton and Huddersfield monitored Colwill’s situation. However, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel wanted to assess him in pre-season before making a decision on the player’s future.

Everton sent Jarrad Branthwaite out on loan to PSV for more game time, while also putting Yerry Mina on the market. Frank Lampard wants to rejuvenate the defence and signing Colwill will be another step towards achieving that goal. It appears that the Toffees might have a chance to land Colwill.

Everton target Levi Colwill is open to leaving Chelsea

Chelsea signed Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli on a four year deal. His arrival means that he will instantly become a starter at the club as Chelsea replace the likes of Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger. The Stamford Bridge tenants aren’t done yet as they are carefully studying the market to bring two more central defenders. Joules Kounde of Sevilla, Presnel Kimpembe of PSG and Nathan Ake of Manchester City are some targets that Tuchel admires.

The arrival of these experienced and well-developed defenders doesn’t sound good news to the ears of Colwill. Earlier, the 19 year old had hoped that the departures of Rudiger and Christensen will put him in contention for first team football but Chelsea are concentrating on centre backs this summer and targeting big names like Koulibaly.

With the backing of the new owner Todd Boehly, Chelsea will indeed be successful in signing more well established central defenders. According to The Athletic, Colwill will prefer to leave Chelsea if the club ends up signing more defenders.

Even in the current team, Colwill will be behind Thiago Silva, Koulibaly, Trevoh Chalobah and Malang Sarr. If another defender like Kimpembe or Kounde arrives at Stamford Bridge, Colwill’s game time will be close to null.

Crystal Palace seems confident of securing the 19 year old but the likes of Everton, Leicester, Fulham and Brighton are also in the hunt.

Everton boss Lampard has a solid reputation for grooming and developing young players and there are plenty of cases that serve as an example – Mason Mount, Fikayo Tomori, Tammy Abraham, Reece James and many more.

The Toffees must pounce on this opportunity and attempt the signing of Colwill. His addition will not instantly solve the defensive issues but he will be a long term asset like Branthwaite. No there’s a real possibility that the young Englishman will leave Chelsea and Everton must be present at the door with an offer for Colwill. He is valued at £4.5 million by Transfermarkt, indicating that the Royal Blues won’t have to dish out exorbitant sums for the 19 year old.

Will the Merseysiders manage to sign Levi Colwill?