MY MEDALS OF HONOUR
Chalobah eyes a dream double
ENGLAND’S most-capped 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 after years of loan moves, playing 10 league games as the Blues won the Premier League.
Collection
Now, the England Under-21 star with more youth caps than anyone else wants another medal for his collection by helping the Young Lions go all the way in Poland at Euro 2017.
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.
He said: “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.
“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.
He was loaned out six times by successive managers before getting his big break under Antonio Conte last season.
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 fellow young gun 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 Go Pro camera.
He has it with him in Poland just in case, with England guaranteed a place in the semi finals for the first time since 2009 if they beat hosts Poland in Kielce tonight.
Chalobah, 22, 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.
But after being tipped by England boss Gareth Southgate as a future contender for the defensive midfield role currently played by Eric Dier at senior level, Chalobah wants more.
He said: “I have to make sure these aren’t my last caps.
“Not everybody makes the jump to the seniors but it’s the target. The pathway is there. It is a lot easier now.”
Playing for Chelsea last season and training with fellow midfielders N’Golo Kante, Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic
has helped Chalobah become a better player. He said: “I have competition ahead of me in Kante, Fabregas and Matic and we’re taking European Cup winners, World Cup winners and full internationals.
“These are players that you can learn from every single day in terms of what they do on the pitch and the way they are off the pitch.
“I try to take something from all of them. Kante’s workrate and defensive quality. Matic, his composure, and Cesc, his passing and always picking up passes.
Wicked
“But I don’t really say I’m first choice here or I’ve now made it. I’m just really trying to improve every single year, that’s all.”
Chalobah, who was born in Sierra Leone and moved to the UK at seven, begun his England journey in the Under-16s with a 6-0 win over Northern Ireland in Ballymena nine years ago.
He said: “It’s been wicked. I’ve never turned down a call-up regardless of where I was in my career, even if I was carrying a little knock.
“It’s always been an honour. I still have the same passion and pride I did then.
“Not many people have the opportunity to play for England. It’s an honour. A big thing. I want to grab it with both hands.”