{"id":21840,"date":"2026-07-27T10:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T10:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=21840"},"modified":"2026-07-27T10:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T10:22:10","slug":"levi-colwill-reveals-xabi-alonso-demand-after-nightmare-chelsea-injury-read-chelsea-f-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=21840","title":{"rendered":"Levi Colwill reveals Xabi Alonso demand after nightmare Chelsea injury &#8211; Read Chelsea F.C."},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Levi Colwill\u2019s Chelsea return has given the defender renewed motivation after a serious knee injury disrupted almost his entire 2025\/26 campaign. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The academy graduate says he feels stronger physically and mentally as he prepares to work under Xabi Alonso.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Colwill suffered knee ligament damage on the opening day of pre-season last summer. He spent most of the campaign completing his rehabilitation at Cobham before returning during the closing weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The England international is now in Australia and could feature against Western Sydney Wanderers in Chelsea\u2019s first public friendly under Alonso.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udea8 Levi Colwill on Xabi Alonso wowing players in training:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s just spraying balls around for no reason and it&#8217;s a perfect pass every time. Sometimes you can be a bit jealous! He&#8217;s an amazing manager to work under and he was obviously a crazy player.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>(@kierangill_DM) #CFC <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/sqX0r6YCk0\">pic.twitter.com\/sqX0r6YCk0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Chelsea Dodgers (@TheBlueDodger) July 27, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Levi Colwill\u2019s Chelsea return brings fresh Alonso opportunity<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m ready to go,\u201d Colwill told\u00a0Chelsea\u2019s official website.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think having a tiny taste at the end of last season gave me that extra motivation to come back to pre-season with that fire in my belly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Colwill described his recovery as a difficult period but believes the experience made him stronger. He must now rebuild his match sharpness and establish himself within Alonso\u2019s preferred defence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 23-year-old has also welcomed Alonso\u2019s demand for Chelsea\u2019s defenders to play bravely in possession. Colwill believes the approach suits his ability to begin attacks and use his passing range from the back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe wants us to express ourselves and have the freedom to play passes and show off your qualities on the ball,\u201d Colwill said. \u201cIt\u2019s perfect for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Colwill could partner Aaron Anselmino against Western Sydney Wanderers, with\u00a0ReadChelsea\u2019s latest match previewplacing both defenders in the predicted starting lineup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Levi Colwill\u2019s Chelsea return gives Alonso a left-footed centre-back comfortable progressing possession. The next step is building his fitness without placing unnecessary strain on a player returning from a long absence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Levi Colwill\u2019s Chelsea return has given the defender renewed motivation after a serious knee injury&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}