Chelsea boss Pochettino further strengthens team bond with extra-ordinary choice of captain

It has been an interesting summer for the defender Trevoh Chalobah who has gone from being outside and looking in with constant rumours that he’d be sold to being the first player to captain Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea.

Not that he’s been confirmed as the leader for the season but he must have felt so proud to step out against Wrexham as the captain of Chelsea after coming through the ranks at the club.

A couple of misfortunes have happened at the right time for him, especially with injuries to Wesley Fofana who is expected to be out for half the campaign and Benoit Badiashile, whose return date is still not known.

In all the talk of being shipped out to Inter Milan all summer, Chalobah has remained focused, especially at a time when he could have thrown his toys out of the pram and on Thursday morning when new manager Pochettino sent out his first team full of a youngster looking to impress, it was the 24-year-old Chalobah who donned the armband.

He admitted it was an incredibly proud moment for him even though he did not want to start thinking he’d have it for the season.

He told reporters in North Carolina before posting on Twitter: “Obviously it’s an honour to captain this club, it’s a great experience for me.

“Obviously it happened today and I’ll try not to think too much about it but obviously playing with a young squad out there I tried the younger players and we got the win so that’s good.”

The choice of Trevoh is another great move from new manager Pochettino as the defender is one you’ll consider a proper Chelsea boy. He came through the academy, has less ego, is young and despite being with the team for some time still feels he has everything to prove.

Pochettino himself has said he would like to get to know all his players well before deciding who the permanent captain will be next season, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Thiago Silva and Reece James have all been mentioned in the past but the extra carrot of intrigue is that players like Chalobah could be in the leadership.

“first of all we need to close the squad,” Pochettino told reporters when asked about who should be captain.

‘And then I need to know all the players. I think I need to feel the players, I need to feel the commitment, I need to feel the character and personalities.”

Trevoh was born in Sierra Leone but his parents moved to London when he was only three alongside two of his brothers and has worked hard to make it into the Chelsea first team.