Chalobah will show his medal
ENGLAND’S mostcapped kid hopes championship winners’ medals are like London buses. You wait half your life for one and then two come along at once.
Nathaniel Chalobah finally made his big breakthrough at Chelsea this season after years of loan moves, playing 10 league games as the Blues won the title.
Now the England Under-21 midfielder, who has more youth caps than anyone else, wants to add another medal to his collection by helping the Young Lions go all the way here at Euro 2017.
And unlike former Blues boss Jose Mourinho, who once tossed his title-winning medal into the crowd, Chalobah will be keeping his much closer to home.
“People give their medals away? Really? I didn’t give mine away, I’ll tell you that. It’s in a safe somewhere. After biting it a few times, I realised it was actually real,” he said.
“It’s my first one, and if I win another one here with England, I won’t be throwing that one away either. It would be an amazing achievement to win both. Unreal.”
Chalobah has been with Chelsea since he was 10. Now 22, he was loaned out six times by successive managers before getting his big break under Antonio Conte.
The Italian handed him his debut in the League Cup against Leicester last September and he has been a regular in the squad ever since, pushing Ruben Loftus-Cheek down the pecking order.
Chalobah, who will be offered a new contract by the champions when he returns from the Euros, filmed the club’s title celebrations on a GoPro camera. And he has it with him here just in case, with England guaranteed a place in the semi-finals for the first time since 2009 if they beat the hosts tonight.
Chalobah said: “I just wanted to get that for myself anyway but the club used the footage in the end. I’ve got the camera here.”
Euro glory would also help Chalobah end his spell in the juniors on a high after earning a record 95 caps for his country at age-group level so far.
After being tipped by Gareth Southgate as a contender for the defensive midfield role currently occupied by Eric Dier at senior level, Chalobah wants more. “I have to make sure these aren’t my last caps,” he said. “Not everybody makes the jump to the seniors but it’s the target. The pathway is there. easier now.”
After an opening draw with Sweden, Aidy Boothroyd’s boys came from behind to beat Slovakia and will top Group A with a win over the hosts.
Boothroyd said: “I’d be lying if I said I had planned it this way because I didn’t want us to peak too early.
“But we are finding our feet. If we keep improving, we will have half a chance of going further.”
ENGLAND (probable): KO:
It is a lot