‘Need to hear’ - manager confirms talks with Liverpool transfer target

New Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed that he plans to hold talks with Levi Colwill.

The defender has been linked with a move to Liverpool in the summer transfer window. Jurgen Klopp is an admirer.

Colwill has come through the youth ranks at Chelsea but is still to make his senior debut for the club.

Last season, Colwill was loaned to Brighton and Hove Albion where he made a total of 22 appearances while he spent the previous campaign at Huddersfield Town. Brighton have reportedly already had a £40 million bid turned down by the London outfit.

Colwill returns to Stamford Bridge this summer against the back drop of playing a key role to help England under-21s to European Championships glory.

Thiago Silva, Benoit Badiashile, Wesley Fofana and Trevoh Chalobah are the other centre-back options that Pochettino has inherited at Chelsea.

But the Argentine wants to see where Colwill's mindset is when he arrives back in London. Pochetinno said: ‘He is a Chelsea player and in the last few months [on loan] at Brighton he was playing really well. He is one of our players and I need to talk with him when he arrives next week.

‘I need to get a feel for him. I need to hear what he has in his mind, what he expects. And then, of course, for him to listen to what I expect from him.’

Liverpool have so far signed Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai in the summer transfer window for a combined fee of £90 million.

But the Reds are also thought to want an additional defensive option who preferably is left-footed. Colwill fits that criteria while Wolfsburg's Micky van de Ven has also been linked.