Levi’s grace under pressure is like Rio
FORMER Premier League defender Anton Ferdinand has drawn comparisons between Huddersfield Town star Levi Colwill and his brother, Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand.
Colwill did not have a single professional appearance to his name before Huddersfield drafted him on loan from Chelsea – but the 19-year-old has lit up the second tier with his performances at the back.
His assured displays in the heart of the Huddersfield defence have helped the club become surprise contenders for promotion and there is already speculation swirling around where he will play his football next season.
There is reportedly interest from overseas as well as the Premier League and it is currently difficult to imagine the England under-21 international remaining in the Championship.
Speaking on the Rio Ferdinand Presents FIVE YouTube channel, Anton Ferdinand said: “He’s definitely got the attributes to be that sort of [Rio Ferdinand] mould.
“I think when I looked at him and watched him, the first thing that I saw from him was his presence, his stature, his build.
“For someone so young, 19, to have the stature that he’s got, and he plays with an older head, which is also a good thing as a centre-back.
“Best to be left-footed, there’s not many left-footed centrebacks about and you know what it’s like, left-footed players look so much more cultured than right-footed players so that goes in his favour.
“There’s being cultured and being able to deliver. The ball at his feet is a major, major, asset to his armoury.
“He’s very, very good on the ball, he’s calm and he’s assertive with his passing, and he’s someone who can start attacks so when you look at a modern day centre-back, he’s got everything to go to the very top.”
Colwill has impressed alongside the experienced duo of Tom Lees and Matty Pearson.
Chelsea have an army of loanees but it is highly likely his levels have caught the eye of his parent club and Anton Ferdinand
has insisted he is currently ‘head and shoulders’ above Championship level.
He said: “I’m looking at this and looking at his heat map – he doesn’t mind playing high.
“When you play in a Chelsea team, that’s got to be one of your attributes as a defender and that’s one thing that also stuck out in my mind, he doesn’t mind defending one-v-one.
“When you play in the top teams, you have to be comfortable defending one-v-one. You’ve got to be able to allow your fullback to go and attack because you have 60/70 per cent of the football, you need your fullbacks because your full-backs become attackers.
“The modern day full-back is an attacker, not a defender. To allow your team to spend vast amounts of the game in the attacking half, your centre-backs need to be able to defend one-vone.
“When you look at the top teams, the [Manchester] United team with Rio and [Nemanja] Vidic, they didn’t mind it.
“He defends on the front foot as well, he’s aggressive and he defends on the front foot. That’s [an] attribute that you can’t teach.
“Aggression, you can’t teach that, you’ve either got it or you haven’t. He’s not aggressive in a malicious way, he’s aggressive and assertive in the way he defends and when you do play at the top, you need that.”