£40m Liverpool target was a huge Reds fan growing up – coach

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A former coach of Chelsea’s Levi Colwill has claimed that the defender was a big Liverpool fan growing up.

Colwill has been heavily linked with a move to Anfield this summer, as the Reds look to future-proof their defence. As the rumour mill has turned, a picture of a young Levi decked out in an Adidas Liverpool shirt has emerged.

The Liverpool Echo have tracked down the man standing at the back of that photo – coach Lee Hudson, who it’s claimed coached Colwill in his early years. Asked for the story behind the snap, Hudson said the 20-year-old ‘adored’ Liverpool back then.

“He’d come and no one else was wearing a kit, I think Hakim [another boy in the photo] was wearing a Manchester United kit and he was a die-hard United fan, but Levi was wearing that Liverpool top” he says.

“For a similar reason to Hakim for wearing the United top, it was Levi who adored Liverpool at the time, it was all he’d watch. At the time, Southampton we were a League One team when the picture was taken, there was no real buzz around the city to be a Southampton fan.

“So all the younger generation at that time were supporting Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and all that stuff and idolising different players. Levi’s was Liverpool. Like any of the other kids, they aspired to be professionals, looked up to them and that was a team Levi had picked to be his and Steven Gerrard was a player he looked up to and admired greatly.”

Colwill Liverpool stance becomes clear

Perhaps this is the reason Liverpool appear to have confidence that Colwill is get-able. If the club have spoken to the player, it’s likely that he’s made his allegiances known at some stage.

Although Chelsea have always maintained that the centre-back is untransferable, the Reds interest has held. That’s unusual for Liverpool who don’t usually like to waste time on chasing pointless targets.

It seems fair to suggest that Colwill has given them some indication that he’d be interested in a move to Anfield.

Nevertheless, a transfer now looks further away than ever. That’s because over the past few days, the England U21 star’s chances of playing for Chelsea have got a whole lot better.

Wesley Fofana’s ACL injury isn’t good news for anyone at Chelsea, that’s clear. But it obviously does mean that Colwill’s path to starting on a regular basis is more clear than it was this time last week.

Already entrenched in their decision to keep hold of their academy graduate, it now seems impossible that Chelsea will let Colwill leave.

If he doesn’t get what he hopes for, things could change in a year’s time. Maybe he’ll get his Liverpool move after all. For now though, we think this one will remain on the back-burner.