Chelsea handed colossal injury boost at the perfect time but cannot be careless this season

Levi Colwill is closing in on his long-awaited return to first-team action but Chelsea need to be extremely careful with the defender

If you cast your mind back to late-May last year, closing in on 12 months to the very day, an elated Levi Colwill must have had trouble sleeping after scoring the winning goal in Chelsea’s 1-0 victory over Nottingham Forest.

In front of the away section at the City Ground, the Blues defender capped off his and his side’s season with probably the most crucial goal of his career to date. A tap-in at the far post to secure Chelsea, his boyhood club, Champions League qualification.

A dream conclusion to the league season but Colwill had to keep his head and maintain his focus for two enormous months for the Blues. First there was the small matter of the Conference League final, in which Chelsea ended up coming from behind to beat Real Betis in Wroclaw, with Colwill changing the game for Enzo Maresca’s side.

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With Betis 1-0 up on the hour-mark, Maresca turned to the bench and brought Colwill on with the hope of progressing the ball more effectively from the defence. With Colwill’s intelligence and ability at the back, Chelsea comfortably won 4-1 in Poland.

He then played an enormous role in Chelsea’s Club World Cup triumph in the United States, and finished the campaign with a total of 43 appearances to his name.

With little-to-no rest before the 2025/26 campaign got underway, there was agony for Colwill, who injured his knee during the club’s first pre-season training session.

The Cobham graduate had successful surgery after suffering a serious anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury – which ruled him out for the majority of the upcoming campaign. For someone whose trajectory was rocketing, such news came as a devastating blow.

“When I was down bad, there was one good day to every six bad days,” Colwill said in a recent interview with Sky Sports. “And when they’re bad days, don’t talk to me.”

Colwill lost faith at times – especially during those early days of the recovery programme. During said ‘bad days’, Colwill often questioned the point of the work he was doing and also went through a bit of an identity crisis; with football, something he could only watch, a colossal part of his life.

But all of that was building, slowly, to his long-anticipated return to action. The Cobham graduate has featured for the Under-21s side twice in recent weeks, captaining them on both occasions, to get some crucial minutes back on the pitch. His return is very close.

Almost nine months to the very day he went down in agony and Colwill is in contention to return to the Chelsea squad for Monday afternoon’s Premier League clash with Nottingham Forest, the side he scored such an unforgettable goal against last season. Sources say Chelsea will treat Colwill with extra care and caution, even if he is in the squad, so there is no guarantee we see him on the pitch on Monday, even if he is named on the bench. It might be that this season, Colwill is used sparingly.

Since Colwill last kicked a ball competitively for Chelsea, so much has changed. A new head coach has come and gone, nine of his teammates have been sent off, 75 goals have been conceded by the Blues and his side are now, realistically, fighting for a place in the Europa League/Conference League. Colwill’s return comes at a good time, though patience will be necessary.