6 minutes ago, STATS said:

I am a fan of Veiga in any case.

But given he was loaned out last season, is it not the case that Maresca isn’t?

And I’m not so sure he’s a fan of Trev either.

Edited August 8, 2025Aug 8 by Snedger

Levi is written off for the season, even with ACL recovery times shortening massively in recent years, by the time you’re back to ‘match fitness’ the season has over.

Factoring we’ll have Champions League fixtures not Conference League fixtures to contend with and should be eyeing a much deeper run in both cup competitions we NEED 4 PROVEN QUALITY CB’s

We only have Tosin & Trev that fall into that category.

Hato & Anselmino MIGHT turn out to be quality but they aren’t proven and haven’t played in the Prem ever.

Badiashille & Fofana are lost causes and should be discarded from memory/option.

Josh is more naturally right sided.

Give Thiago a call see if he fancies a 9 month London holiday? Bring Guehi home? Get rinsed by Forest for Murillo?

Gutted for him, he had a poor season the year before last but was superb last one, and in the WCC. He has stood up and taken control of the defence as we hoped, while continuing to build as a defender, I felt this season was going to be special by him. Hopefully he can if not fully recover then at least get close, hes still a kid so has a lot of football ahead of him and an ACL is not the game changer it used to be.

12 minutes ago, Snedger said:

But given he was loaned out last season, is it not the case that Maresca isn’t?

And I’m not so sure he’s a fan of Trev either.

He was loaned out and did well. Chalobah was sent out on loan without even being given a proper chance and then we called him back and he was a regular. So the same should go for Veiga, especially now after Colwill's injury.

This is really bad news for the team and I feel so sorry for Levi. Right when he was on the way to become one of the best defenders in the PL, he does his ACL. It must be gutting for him.

It was great to win the CWC for the bragging rights (though, I wasn't really interested in it and I only watched the final), but I still feel that this type of cups are partly responsible for many of the injuries we're seeing across the European leagues. Although I'm not an expert medic and don't have any scientific prove that the increase in competitive games and decreased rest has any impact on these injuries. Maybe some on here have more knowledge on it.

We've got Veiga, Anselmino, potentially Sarr, Badiashile to take over that role. I personally think this could be a good chance to give Baddy a run of games. I don't remember us doing that. He is good at making those line piercing passes but he's been suspect in some defensive actions but the optimist in me says he just needs time to find his groove by playing more than one game here and there.

Anselmino is pretty young and untested and not sure which side he prefers. Veiga is on his way out but could be excited for the new opportunity. Sarr is already contacted to Strasbourg but if it was life or death we could probably call him back. Young boy as well.

Remains to be seen whether we go into the market...

Not sure if this means anything.

Absolutely gutted for Colwill. Was only saying to my mate the other day how much he has grown into a real leader now.

Thankfully he should be able to get back to his best again, acl injuries nowhere near as devastating as they once were, amd plenty of top players have gone on to have brilliant careers after, including rudiger who did his at about the same age as Colwill.

In terms of replacement, I think we were always a top centre back short. Colwill is the only one that i would say was a nailed on starter for the next 5 years. We have excellent squad players in Badiashille, Tosin and Chalobah. Fofana can not be relied upon, and I would actually sell next summer unless he has a brilliant season as a starting centre back.

That then leaves the 3 prospects, ( not counting Disasi, hopefully he never plays for us again). Achaempong, Anselmino, Sarr. The latter has gone out on loan, the former 2 are still an option, but with the injury concerns with Fofana and Badiashille, I think we have to bring someone in.

Personally I would go for Tomas Araujo. We have been consistently linked over the last 12 months, he has an €80m buy out clause, and i think stylistically he can play centre centre back, and right centre back to really high level. He would be a fantastic long term partner to Colwill too.

15 minutes ago, RMH said:

This is really bad news for the team and I feel so sorry for Levi. Right when he was on the way to become one of the best defenders in the PL, he does his ACL. It must be gutting for him.

It was great to win the CWC for the bragging rights (though, I wasn't really interested in it and I only watched the final), but I still feel that this type of cups are partly responsible for many of the injuries we're seeing across the European leagues. Although I'm not an expert medic and don't have any scientific prove that the increase in competitive games and decreased rest has any impact on these injuries. Maybe some on here have more knowledge on it.

The rise in injuries isn’t something that anyone seems to have been able to explain. There are several theories such as modern day pitches , footwear, training methods and yes too many games.

It probably is due to a number of reasons but

1) The incidence of ACLs in non league football for instance isn’t close to the ratio seen at elite level. At non league pitches are ,save the odd ones that have artificial pitches, simple grass. Nor do we see the number of ACLs in rugby.

2) Football say 20 years ago was far more brutal yet the number of ACLs was fewer, squads were smaller meaning players had little opportunity to be rested, there were more games in the league, FA Cup replays were unlimited there was the League Cup and it was commonplace for top teams to require their players to play in testimonials.

That said there weren’t as many internationals nor were there so many games in European Competitions but only a couple of clubs from each nation took part in Europe.

I'm in two minds about whether to go in for another CB or not.

Half of me thinks we should go and sign Guehi and the other half of me think surely one of these youngsters are good enough. Anselmino, Veiga, Hato, Badiashile, Tosin, Sarr. Over 100M spent on CB's without even looking at Fofana and Disasi.

Liverpool threw Bradley in at the deep end and he looked class. City have done the same with Rico Lewis. Give Hato, Veiga or Anselmino the chance to prove themselves. Everyone has said we can't challenge for the league this season anyway.

I had us as genuine title contenders this season but when you think about what our goalie and defence situation is going to be without Colwill it's looking a bit grim. Mediocore at best centre backs and a calamity waiting to happen in goal is going bite us at crucial moments.

I cant believe anyone here thinks badiashile can be the answer. What have they been watching? He needs to be out of the club just as badly as disasi does. We are going to need a new senior centre back if we have big ambitions this season imho. guehi would be the simplest option i guess, whether hes the best option is another matter

Edited August 8, 2025Aug 8 by ALTE

I would be happy to go in without a replacement

Unless Rudiger wants to come back.

Absolutely gutted for Colwill. Let’s hope he can pick up where he left off once he recovers.

In the meantime, there are huge questionmarks over our defence. Him and Chalobah are the only ones I am confident can do the job at CB to the level required.

Tosin was more solid towards the end of last season, which is encouraging. There was a game at the CWC where him and Chalobah looked good as a pairing. We could also use his height at corners.

Fofana is another option that’s difficult to assess at this stage. What level is he at after all these injuries? Can he be relied upon?

Jorrel Hato looks a promising player and hopefully he can adjust quickly. He isn’t the tallest, so maybe corners will be a problem unless we are playing our stronger guys in other positions such as Delap, Lavia and James.

Badiashiele I am not confident in at all. Have seen enough to suggest that he will fold against teams that put us under real pressure. Fine for games where we are cruising though.

I'm not sure Guehi is the answer. He's never looked anything special to me. Since it's confirmed now to be a very long one, we probably do need some cover.

Tosin, Chalobah, Hato isn't much in the way of CB options.

Assuming Disasi and Badiasielle end up leaving, and Veiga seems to want out. And god knows about all the random kids we signed like Ansilmino or whatever his name is.

Edited August 8, 2025Aug 8 by Zeta

Feel for Colwill and this will effect us as he is our best CB.

We all knew with the long season and then little break with the CWC that this would impact and now we have it. Bad enough being Colwill but imagine if next time it's Cole Palmer. All these injuries in the modern game really need to be looked at as it's getting ridiculous. It must be a combination of things, (amount of football / training/ boots/ pitches) but a lot of teams played just as much football back in the '70's and only had 1 sub and played on muddy / sandy pitches but something needs to happen.

4 minutes ago, Nibs said:

Feel for Colwill and this will effect us as he is our best CB.

We all knew with the long season and then little break with the CWC that this would impact and now we have it. Bad enough being Colwill but imagine if next time it's Cole Palmer. All these injuries in the modern game really need to be looked at as it's getting ridiculous. It must be a combination of things, (amount of football / training/ boots/ pitches) but a lot of teams played just as much football back in the '70's and only had 1 sub and played on muddy / sandy pitches but something needs to happen.

They played a lot of football but at walking pace!

Signing someone is really difficult as they won’t want to sit on the bench once Levi returns.

If I was the SD’s, I would be asking Maresca to bury the hatchet with Veiga and use him.

Can someone please reload a save of Chelsea's season from a week ago before the Colwill injury?

23 minutes ago, JM7 said:

Signing someone is really difficult as they won’t want to sit on the bench once Levi returns.

If I was the SD’s, I would be asking Maresca to bury the hatchet with Veiga and use him.

Realistically though if we sign, for example, Bastoni, Guehi or Antonio Silva, none of them are being benched, Colwill would be coming back in over Trev, Tosin etc.

Can Hato seriously fill in or will we be relying on Badiashile? I just don't know so for me it's a risk to not sign a new left sided centre half.

Forget about Garnacho and sign Geuhi with 20% discount.

1 hour ago, bisright1 said:

They played a lot of football but at walking pace!

Think you're being a bit harsh there!

I know what you mean. Players are a lot fitter these days and games have more intensity now. But there were a lot of quick players back in the day and tricky wingers. If anything there should have been MORE injuries back then as so much more tackling was allowed. Guess there were more impact injuries then but now it's all ham-string and ACL & metatarsal injuries (that no-one had ever heard of until 2000!)

It's about time all of these sports scientists started earning their money and prevented the number of injuries but I guess their argument would be "fewer games".

Edited August 8, 2025Aug 8 by Nibs

1 hour ago, Nibs said:

Feel for Colwill and this will effect us as he is our best CB.

We all knew with the long season and then little break with the CWC that this would impact and now we have it. Bad enough being Colwill but imagine if next time it's Cole Palmer. All these injuries in the modern game really need to be looked at as it's getting ridiculous. It must be a combination of things, (amount of football / training/ boots/ pitches) but a lot of teams played just as much football back in the '70's and only had 1 sub and played on muddy / sandy pitches but something needs to happen.

Modern players push themselves to the limits athletically. ACL and similar injuries are not caused by aggressive tackles on the pitch and physical battles, but tend to occur when the ligament is pushed beyond its limit due to extreme acceleration (including sudden stops and changes of direction).

I don't have any numbers/stats to "prove" it, but it would make total sense to me if the type of injuries suffered by players over the last 30 years has shifted from breaks and impact injuries towards more muscular and ligament strains/tears.

16 minutes ago, Andy North said:

Can Hato seriously fill in or will we be relying on Badiashile? I just don't know so for me it's a risk to not sign a new left sided centre half.

Forget about Garnacho and sign Geuhi with 20% discount.

Injured again. He’s just as injury prone as Fofana.

3 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Injured again. He’s just as injury prone as Fofana.

So at this point we don't have a single out and out left sided centre half.

Great.