Exiled England star Chilwell reveals motivation after brutal Chelsea treatment

Crystal Palace defender Ben Chilwell was sparked on by a dream to play in the World Cup in 2026 under Thomas Tuchel, as he dealt with traininig alone at Chelsea earlier this season

Ben Chilwell has revealed his goal of playing for England at the World Cup drove him to keep training alone when he was frozen out at Chelsea. The on-loan Crystal Palace left-back is looking to rejuvenate his season with the Eangles after failing to make a Premier League squad for the Blues.

The 28-year-old will line up for Oliver Glasner against Fulham in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Saturday. But Chilwell has made only one competitive start – against Millwall in the last round – since playing for England in March last year.

The £45m defender won the Champions League with Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea in 2021 and thrived in the German coach’s system. But Chilwell, who has seen recent seasons heavily disrupted by injury, was forced to train away from the first-team squad by new head coach Enzo Maresca before joining Palace in January.

After only making two matchday squads for Carabao Cup outings against Barrow and Newcastle, Chilwell was left to languish. The former Leicester star found a solitary training environment away from the schedule of more-favoured team-mates.

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And Chilwell said: “For however many months at Chelsea, between the start of the season and January, I was training by myself a lot of the days. You’re not involved in the matchday squads and you kind of just wait for the opportunity for when you’re gonna go somewhere.”

Chilwell has missed England’s last two major tournaments because of injury and failed to play a minute under Gareth Southgate at Euro 2020. But Tuchel gave a debut to Arsenal teenager Myles Lewis-Skelly in the recent World Cup qualifiers because of the shortage of left-backs.

Aspirartions of an international comeback under his old manager, ahead of next year’s World Cup, helped provide Chilwell with the fire to push on. The tournament, to be host by the United States, Mexico and Canada has offered him a long-term target to aim for.

Chilwell told ITV Sport: “It’s a much longer term goal but the World Cup of course. I missed the last World Cup and Euros with an injury so this World Cup is definitely in my mind…that was definitely something in the last four or five months at Chelsea that was another added motivation to keep on going.”

Speaking after the Millwall game, Chilwell said: “I want to get back to showing everyone that I’m a top world class left back, left wing back. I feel I’ve got stuff to prove.

“Everyone has an ego in football and I’m not going to shy away from it. I want to show everyone that I am as good as what I was when I won the Champions League.”

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