Academy graduate Levi Colwill was at fault for West Ham’s goal in Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Graham Potter’s Hammers.

His weak back pass got pounced upon by Jarred Bowen, who ruthlessly buried the ball in the bottom right corner beyond an exposed Filip Jorgensen in goal. 

Touted as the next best home-grown defensive talent after legendary John Terry, Levi Colwill’s performances this season have birth mixed reactions amongst the fan base.

Despite some very good showings earlier in the season (West Ham away, Villa at home), a series of costly errors has seen Colwill come under heavy scrutiny in recent times. 

Considering the hype surrounding the ex-Brighton loanee, we ask; Is Levi Colwill deserving of the hype? 

Growing up, Colwill openly admitted his admiration for John Terry and despite the glaring differences between both, being a cobham born and bred means the fans have a ‘soft spot’ for the 21-year old. 

After successful loan spells in the championship with Huddersfield Town and a brilliant time with Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton in the premier league, Levi Colwill was given the chance to represent his boyhood club, Chelsea last season under the tutelage of Mauricio Pochettino.

Shunned out wide to play as a Left back for majority of last season, Colwill’s struggles were understandable as the central defender had no prior experience playing out wide.

Colwill’s struggles against pacy attackers were widely documented and upon realizing his weaknesses, then manager Mauricio Pochettino corrected his mistake and deployed Levi centrally for the final run-in of games.

Since then, Colwill has always played as part of the central defensive pairing but depending on his partner and team’s shape, Colwill sometimes still finds himself in the left back area, dueling with tricky customers just like Mo Kudus last night at the bridge. 

No slouch himself, Colwill often manages to get the better of his opponent when dueling as he’s a good dueler but one particular type of attackers Levi often struggles against; are the pacy, tricky and hard to knock-off kind of attackers-and Mó Kudus is definitely one. 

During their enthralling battle, Colwill as he so often does, got the better of his opponent, this time, Mó Kudus—won the most duels in the game with 13, and most tackles with 5.

However, the very one time he was pressed aggressively, Levi Colwill hastily passed the ball back to his goalkeeper without a proper scan, gifting Bowen a chance through on goal, costing the team a clean-sheet and directly making an error that led to a goal. 

His error led to many questioning if he is truly worth as much as many make him to seem after a couple of costly mistakes already this season (Arsenal offside trap, Liverpool away…)

Colwill being only 21-years of age and already an England international means he’s definitely talented and playing top-level football for a team always under pressure to win games like Chelsea can only help him get better and with time, the Cobham graduate is certainly going to get rid of the costly mistakes.