Sooner or later the time will come when Liverpool will have to replace Virgil van Dijk. Given the intensity Jürgen Klopp requires from his defenders, as the Dutchman continues to age and lose his burst of pace, he will become less and less suited to Liverpool’s high line.
Liverpool will hope the time to replace him is in the distant future. But in football you have to plan ahead, and there is no doubt the Reds will already be considering potential future replacements.
The latest ideal choice — who is on Liverpool’s radar, according to Football Insider — is Levi Colwill. The Reds were given a reminder of his talent yesterday when Gareth Southgate called him up to the senior England squad.
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Colwill spent a season on loan at Huddersfield in the Championship before making the step up to the Premier League at Brighton. Contracted to Chelsea, he is not expected to remain at Stamford Bridge this summer, and while a permanent move to the south coast seems the most likely, for the right price Liverpool should also be in the race.
Southgate’s judgement should be taken with a pinch of salt considering his continued shunning of Trent Alexander-Arnold, but in Colwill’s instance he has definitely made the right call.
He only turned 20 years old earlier this year but already looks like a mature defender beyond his years with his excellent reading of the game and positioning. Comfortable on the left-side of the defense, there are shades of Van Dijk in his style of play, with Colwill boasting composure on the ball and aerial prowess.
Last season, as per Wyscout, only Van Dijk and Armell Bella-Kotchap won more successful defensive duels than Colwill among Premier League center-backs, with the Brighton loanee averaging a 75.38 per cent success rate. And for center-halves who averaged at least five aerial duels per 90, Colwill again ranked in the top five, winning 67.07 per cent of his battles.
To illustrate his composure on the ball as well, only Nathan Aké averaged more forward passes among center-backs than Colwill, at 29.41 forward passes per 90.
Few center-backs have made such a strong impression in their debut campaign in the Premier League and at such a young age. Of course Colwill’s sample is small, at 1362 minutes played, but it is mightily impressive.
It might not be the ideal time for Liverpool to pull the trigger and sign him for tens of millions, considering the focus is very much on reinforcing Klopp’s midfield this summer. However, if he continues to catch the eye — perhaps after a permanent move to Brighton — the Reds could very well bring Colwill to Anfield in a year or two. With Aké himself having been a youngster at Chelsea before temporarily moving outside the big six following numerous loans, this could almost be a carbon copy, and one that might get Klopp his long-term heir to Van Dijk.