Levi Colwill reveals the bizarre addiction that turned his Chelsea form around - as he looks to write his name into club history at Conference League final, writes KIERAN GILL
Levi Colwill is talking us through his addiction to blocking, but not the type we would usually associate with a 6ft 2in Premier League defender.
It is to do with his love of Lego, and how if this Chelsea graduate can secure his first trophy in Wednesday's Conference League final, after a week in which he was called up to Thomas Tuchel 's England squad and scored the winning goal at Nottingham Forest to clinch Champions League qualification, a celebratory trip to Legoland in Windsor will follow.
'I love it,' says the 22-year-old centre back. 'I've built so many. Sadly they all broke when I moved back from here to Southampton. It's a bit of a heartbreaking subject.
'It just takes your mind away from everything. Last season when I was struggling a little, I started doing it. I built the Home Alone one with the movie on in the background. It was around Christmas time so I got myself in the spirit. It took me weeks. The detail they go into is crazy.
'I saw a girl on TikTok building Lego so I wanted to get into it. I'm a big kid. It just takes you back to when you were a kid, in terms of there are no worries, no problems.'
Colwill's barriers were up before the conversation turned to Lego. His arms were folded, there was no getting through. Our questions on Chelsea's owners potentially clinching their first trophy, and him imitating John Terry as one of Cobham's own in the defence, prompted answers from the PR playbook.
Then the L-word arrived and with it, a sense of ease.
'You feel relaxed and in your comfort zone,' he adds on his hobby which has led to some mickey-taking from his team-mates. 'You're not thinking about much more than that. When you put your mind to something, you blank out everything else around you. That's why I enjoy it.'
As vices go, Lego is innocent enough, even if the sets he gets gifted by his mum, Debra, for Christmas do cost circa £200 a pop. Tomorrow, however, all focus will be on building Chelsea into a club that can say they are still winners after going too long without any silverware.
They have won everything else as a club. The Champions League, the Europa League, every competition they have entered. They want their supporters to feel free to continue singing how they have 'won it all' by securing the Conference League, with Real Betis, managed by Manuel Pellegrini, who was previously assisted by Enzo Maresca at West Ham, standing in their way in Wroclaw, Poland.
'If we win this competition, it will make us the most complete club and that's huge,' Colwill continues. 'That's bragging rights for the fans. We definitely have to win it for them.
'That's what we've been saying all season. No matter what competition it is, if we're in it, we want to win it. And we believe we can. For many players, it will be the first trophy we've won and for Chelsea. It can be huge for all of us, to hopefully win, get it under our belt, and then go on to win big competitions in the future.'
When Chelsea won the Carabao Cup under Jose Mourinho in 2005, it acted as a springboard for success. 'If we win, it will give us the confidence and belief to hopefully win more trophies,' Colwill adds. 'Similarly to John Terry, I've been Chelsea through and through. It's what I dreamed of as a kid, and what many kids in the academy now will be doing.
'I can stand here and say all the reasons why I could be a good captain but that could just be me talking a whole lot of rubbish. As an academy boy, to play for Chelsea first and foremost is a dream, and then to captain them is a whole different level. We obviously have Reece (James) as our captain right now and I'm learning from him.
'I'm really harsh on myself because I know how good I could be and I believe in myself. In football, you get a lot of people who will say you weren't that bad. But you judge yourself on how you play. I know when I've been rubbish, I know when I've been good.'
He was certainly good on Sunday, putting in a titanic performance in the defence to stop Forest from scoring while also popping up with the winner at the other end. That made sure Chelsea finished fourth in the Premier League to return to the European competition in which they believe they belong.
Maresca likes to tell us in press conferences how Colwill has grown into a leader as the campaign has progressed, and you get the sense from speaking with him that he is not bricking it for tomorrow's final. He does enough of that in his downtime.
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