EXCLUSIVE Chilly stays COOL
Leicester youngster profits from backing by Puel and Southgate
HE HAS dealt pretty well with Luka Modric, Iago Aspas and Marco Asensio in the past nine days so whether it be Mesut Ozil or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang he’s up against tomorrow night, Ben Chilwell ought to be ready.
In a week in which the England national team appeared to take a step forward from their creditable World Cup experience, arguably no one grew up more Chilwell during international week.
The Leicester left back was a somewhat controversial choice for some at the King Power last season by Claude Puel, as Christian Fuchs is, after all, a much-loved member of the iconic title-winning team.
But Puel was sure which player represented the future. And Chilwell seems sure of himself. After a fine start to the season which has been capped by two mature displays for England against Croatia and Spain, he’s entitled to feel confident.
He smiles as the subject of Modric, Aspas and Asensio comes up, quite some test for a 21-year-old making his first two starts for England. ‘Of course,’ he agrees. ‘The three players you mentioned are three of the best players in the world.
‘Playing against these sorts of players is trying to test myself.
‘I know I’m good enough against the best in the world, but on that sort of stage you have to show it to everyone else. I felt like I did that against Spain and Croatia.’
If Chilwell knows his potential, he also knows his place in the England set-up and is quick to add: ‘It’s important that it was a great performance from the whole team and we fought for each other and everyone did a lot of running for each other. It was superb.
‘The second half (against Spain) was a bit more difficult than the first half. On the ball, it felt like we were really good and going forward very clinical and lightning on the counter attack, which is nice to see from the front three.
‘Marcus (Rashford) and Raheem (Sterling) who played in front of me both did massive shifts defensively and helped me out a lot which I’m very thankful for. And that desire to try and get on the ball and play football, play out the back and be brave on the ball is something that we have tried to work on.’
But if you want some perspective on how the former county crosscountry runner has come in a short time, consider this: when Leicester City won the league title in 2016, the owner presented each player with his own BMW i8 sports car as a reward. Chilwell, who played three cup games for Leicester that season, was included but was too young to drive his car home. The standard insurance rates didn’t cover 18-year-olds taking home a BMW i8 — with good reason, you might argue.
Three years on, three games into his England career, Luke Shaw and Danny Rose look to have a job on their hands to displace him. It only underlines the mantra currently being repeated by England manager Gareth Southgate: being at a club where you have a coach who will actually give you a chance surpasses any prestige move.
Chilwell, who looks close to extending his contract at Leicester, could have moved to tomorrow’s opponents Arsenal or Liverpool as a teenager. His choice to stay looks smart now. ‘Match time is massive,’ says Chilwell. ‘I feel like as a young player you have to play consistently because you’re going to make mistakes. If you make mistakes you have to keep playing to learn from mistakes.
‘Last season was a good example of that. I played the majority of the second half of the season, made mistakes, had good games and that’s all part of learning as a young defender. I’m very critical of myself and I know the levels I want to achieve so I’m very hard on myself. So the staff and players are very hard on me as well, which is what I want as I want to get to as high a level as possible.
‘You have to really stamp out the little mistakes if you want to. I’m very thankful to the manager at Leicester and to the staff with England, Gareth especially because he’s had faith to play me in both games, which he didn’t have to do. He could have played someone else. For him to show me that faith to play me for two 90 minutes, I just really wanted to repay him.’
And even if Puel seems to be perennially one bad result away from a suggestion that his older players are resistant to his tactical changes at Leicester, younger players seem only to open to the change and a more modern style of playing. ‘I spoke to Gareth about that and it is not that different to how we’re trying to play at Leicester. For me at Leicester he wants the full backs to bomb on as well as defend which is what Gareth wants — so not too different. And I’m enjoying my football at the moment.’
There is a theme developing at the King Power. Leicester only had three England debutants (Gary Lineker, Emile Heskey and Steve Guppy) in 20 years up to 2015, but have now had four in four years in Jamie Vardy, Danny Drinkwater, Harry Maguire and Chilwell, with James Maddison likely to follow.
Puel’s nurturing of Chilwell, Maddison, Demarai Gray and Harvey Barnes (currently on loan at West Brom), is perhaps an indication of the quiet, long-term work he will do if allowed to get on with the job. ‘It was a difficult choice to put in Chilly in place of Christian Fuchs,’ said Puel. ‘Christian is very good player for the team. Experienced player, different capabilities but good attributes also. We developed Chilly because I think he is the future for the club. He has had also more game time last season to continue to improve. Both can work very well with different attributes. There is competition between them but I had to take a shot.
‘At 21 he can continue to improve, perhaps to find clinical crosses, for example, and to bring support to his team-mates in offensive play, but he has all the ability. He has fantastic pace, endurance, good engine, to repeat efforts, he is comfortable on the ball, without panic.
‘I said after a few months it was important to put in place a project, to develop experienced players and young. We had this possibility to improve, to have a new training ground for example, more opportunities, so that England youngsters can continue this way. It is just the beginning of the project.’
So well did Chilwell do that you suspect he may have put down a marker as a long-term occupant of the left-back slot for England.
‘I feel like these last two games I’ve come in to do a job and hopefully I’ve done that and can give the manager a bit of a headache for the next international break,’ he says.
For Chilwell too, it appears to be just the beginning.