Chelsea youngster reveals he used to watch two of his teammates on YouTube

The 23-year-old named teammates Kalidou Koulibaly and Thiago Silva as two of his biggest inspirations in an interview with talkSPORT.

‘He [Koulibaly] is a player in my position who I have always watched,’ Chalobah said.

‘He has been a massive player. My older brother, Nathaniel, played with him when he was on loan at Napoli. He knows him well, so it’s a great addition to the team.

‘I used to watch his and Thiago’s [Silva’s] compilations of their defending on YouTube when I was younger.’

However, while Chalobah has been able to train with his idols, he has scarcely played alongside them this season, making just one appearance so far in the win over Leicester.

After an impressive debut campaign in the Chelsea first-team last season, it was expected that the centre-back/defensive midfielder would play a bigger role for the Blues, but under Thomas Tuchel that didn’t happen.

The German manager preferred the experience of Koulibaly, Silva and Cesar Azpilicueta in his back-three, and Chalobah found himself even further down the pecking order following the arrival of Wesley Fofana and the re-positioning of right-wing-back Reece James into a centre-back.

However, with Tuchel now gone and Graham Potter calling the shots, Chalobah has the chance to break back into the starting XI, though he maintains that he is happy to wait for his chance.

‘We want to have depth and the best players playing for the club and that’s what we’ve done,’ the England youth international added.

‘For us to be competing this season, we need the best players as it’s going to be a long season. It’s good to have these players to learn from, players with experience. So, it’s good having that mixture in the team.

‘I feel that when the chance comes, it comes. I will always be patient because playing for a club like this is not easy, there is always going to be competition.

‘That is the best thing for all the players and for me, training with the best players day in, day out. I try not to focus on the outside noise and focus what I’m doing and what I want to do this season. That is to get myself into the team and play a lot of games this season.’

MORE : Chelsea hold talks with RB Salzburg’s Christoph Freund over sporting director role

MORE : Todd Boehly mistakenly claims Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah came through Chelsea’s academy

For more stories like this, check our sport page.