In recent years, Chelsea FC has been one of the most inconsistent teams in England: they’ve been able to beat clubs like Manchester City, Arsenal, and Newcastle United, but have often lost to teams like Crystal Palace, Leicester City, and Bournemouth. This has made success in England very difficult for them.
These have also been years in which many important players have left the team and other young players from the youth academy have stepped up in the team, and one of them is center back Levi Colwill.
Levi Colwill became Chelsea FC’s best center back this season, as they achieved European success with wins in the UEFA Conference League and the FIFA Club World Cup, the latter of which was something completely unexpected.
Many expected the English center-back to remain a mainstay in Chelsea’s defense thanks to his confident style of play and ability to play at left-back, but bad news in football often comes unexpectedly, and for Colwill and Chelsea fans, this bad news could impact the London team’s new season. It was recently announced that Colwill suffered an ACL injury while training with the club, which will cause the defender to miss many months until he is fully recovered.
The worst thing is that Chelsea FC has suffered a lot lately with injuries to its players, and seeing the recurrence of injuries is desperate.
“It was in the first session on Monday, just in the last minutes of the session”, Enzo Maresca said at the press conference. “He felt something and, as I said, we need to wait and then we see.”
Many others believe that due to the severity of the injury, Colwill is likely to miss the majority of the upcoming season, as per reports from ESPN.
Obviously, a center-back injury is an emergency for any team, but so far Chelsea FC hasn’t started looking for another center-back to replace him. The administration is confident on the current squad and also on young Dutchman Jorrel Hato, who can also play at left back and center-back. Hato just joined the team last week.
But of course, for Maresca, finding a solution to the problem is important, and that solution involves getting another center back. The Italian manager has confirmed that it’s a top priority for him to secure a defender as soon as possible if they want to win it all.
🚨👀 Enzo Maresca: “It’s a priority for me to get a new centre back. We will see if we go for it”. pic.twitter.com/GxfgjxjZs7
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 8, 2025
He also said that he and everyone else miss Colwill, and that he is a fantastic footballer.
It’s also good to know that Colwill has already started rehabilitation: “Levi will now begin his recovery and be supported by the club’s medical department at Cobham during his rehabilitation phase.”
A non-contact ACL tear like this can take typically take upto 9-12 months to recovery, so fans shouldn’t expect Colwill to return back to the pitch before April/May 2026.
Chelsea FC already played Bayer Leverkusen with Josh Acheampong and Trevoh Chalobah at center-back and won 2-0, putting in a solid performance. One of these two players could be the replacement Maresca needs as the team’s first-choice defender. Or perhaps the London club will actually activate a plan to sign a new starting center-back.
