Pochettino has his own Stones as highly-rated Blues star reveals ambitious plan

Levi Colwill named John Stones as the player he should emulate his game on at Chelsea

For Levi Colwill, life has been a whirlwind these past few weeks. Just a month after making his Chelsea debut, the 20-year-old spoke like a man beyond one’s years in front of a baying England press pack.

Should, as expected, Colwill make his Three Lions bow against either Ukraine or Scotland, he will have done so after just four Premier League appearances. But the spotlight - or Mauricio Pochettino’s summer challenge - does not faze him.

Upon arrival at in West London, the Argentine insisted Colwill’s path to the first team was not guaranteed. Anybody who has paid a minute’s notice to events at Stamford Bridge in recent years would refuse to argue otherwise.

Cobham has unleashed a conveyor belt of talent on the footballing world but few stick around in the first team. Former golden boy Mason Mount sought pastures new in the summer while Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek were also shipped out.

Pochettino hailed Colwill, the next cab off the rank, ahead of the campaign but insisted his academy graduate status would not inherit any nepotism. The Chelsea boss said: “At the moment, I need to see him and get to know him better,” Pochettino said. “He is a fantastic talent of course. We were talking about the things that we can help improve his game in all areas.

“He is so relaxed, calm and I enjoy talking to him. He has great character and personality. I am so happy to have him in the squad and to have this opportunity to work together.

“For sure, he is going to play. The possibility of playing because Benoit (Badiashile) is injured and higher because he is left and will compete with Benoit. He needs to deserve it, it's not because of one