Chalobah: Family, friendships & defensive partnerships

This interview was initially published in the Crystal Palace v Tottenham programme - you can buy the matchday programme by clicking HERE.

It feels strange that someone like Trevoh Chalobah should doubt whether he was ever destined to be a footballer. He has, after all, become a Premier League regular, playing in the Champions League against the likes of Juventus, AC Milan and Real Madrid, against some of the world’s greatest attackers and alongside some of the world’s best defenders.

When he looks back, though, he acknowledges the serendipitous circumstances around his beginnings in the professional game. While his older brother Nathaniel was a prodigious talent from an early age, Trevoh’s interest in the game was a slow burner.

“I never really loved football when I was younger,” he remembers, in an interview conducted just days after making his Palace debut against Liverpool. “When [Nathaniel] was playing, I used to go out with my friends and do normal kids stuff: in the park, riding bikes.

“When I saw that my brother had been scouted by Fulham, I thought I might try and I started school football. That’s how it started. My love only started because I saw that my brother got scouted by a professional team in Fulham because he had natural ability.

“For me, I didn’t really have the natural ability, so I had to work to get that ability and that love for the game. From there onwards was the point when things changed.” It’s lucky they did, because it soon became clear that the Chalobahs – both of them – were destined for the top.

"I was doing school football, and my brother must have told the Chelsea scouts,” the younger Chalobah remembers. “He didn’t let me know that they were coming to watch my games. I was playing in a Sunday League team in Newbury.

“I was going to Fulham, but then Chelsea came in at the last-minute to go, and my brother had already gone there. I was happy he didn’t let me know the scouts were coming or I could have been a bit nervous! I was a striker in those days and I scored a lot of goals in that game.”

With the two at Chelsea, Nathaniel – five years older than Trevoh – became a figure to look up to. “Not every young player has a brother who is also playing in the Premier League, so for me it was a blessing and a real help,” he says.

“Speaking to him, watching him grow up and helping my game, and him giving me that confidence and motivation to say: ‘If my brother can do it, I can try too’. Not every young footballer has someone to look up to and for me that was my brother. We still talk about our games to this day.

“I used to train with the first-team at Chelsea so we used to train together before he left. Then two seasons ago he was at Fulham and I started the game for Chelsea, but literally when I was coming off he came on.

"We didn’t quite get to share the pitch together, but it was still a nice moment!”

Coming through the academy system at Chelsea, Chalobah was partnered with another young defender with high expectations: Marc Guéhi.

“We played in Youth Cups and in the youth Champions League,” he remembers. He’s being a bit too modest; they won the FA Youth Cup twice, beating a Manchester City side containing Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho, and lifted the UEFA Youth League in 2016, beating Ajax and Paris Saint-Germain on the way.

“He’s helped me coming in – he’s so nice, relaxed, chilled. He’s very mature for his age: cool, calm, collected. You can see that on the pitch as well.”

While Guéhi left Stamford Bridge to gain Premier League minutes and begin to reach his full potential, Chalobah headed out on loan, eventually earning his debut for his boyhood club against Crystal Palace, when he scored a phenomenal first goal.

“It was an amazing moment,” he remembers of the game. “Prior to that I was on loan for three seasons, working hard for that one moment and I managed to get there. All the hard work, all the struggles I went through and having to bounce back after certain games...

“It all flashed through my mind in that one particular moment, and the first thing I could do was drop to my knees and basically just say thank you.” Chalobah’s emotional celebration captured the imagination of all those watching Match of the Day that evening.

The opportunity was provided to him by newly appointed England manager Thomas Tuchel, a figure he credits with giving him the platform to begin his career at the very top level.

“For me he was a top manager,” Chalobah explains. “He developed my game a lot.

“Just because you’re a young player doesn’t mean you can’t perform at the highest level, and he gave me that confidence going into that season. I ended up doing well, playing in the Champions League and from there my confidence grew, because of him and the opportunity that he was giving to the younger players.

“It’s nice when a manager trusts in you. He was always talking to me in training, managing me as a young player, [explaining] the importance of keeping your head right and keeping focus, taking it step by step.”

Tuchel made his name back in Germany, first as manager of Mainz and then with Borussia Dortmund, while Palace boss Oliver Glasner was about to get his big break in the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg and later Eintracht Frankfurt.

Chalobah can see the clear similarities between the two, both moulded by the German system. “There definitely are [similarities] – in terms of his communication with players, talking to players, helping them on the pitch,” he says.

“Since I’ve been here he’s been really good. Even at times when I was not playing – I was injured [at the start] – he was still communicating with me how he wants me to come back into the team.

“Talking with him after the Liverpool game we were discussing how I could improve, what I need to work on, because as a player, no matter how old you are, it’s important that you want to learn and take that into the next game.

“He’s been a manager and a player too, so it’s good to have a lot of advice on improving your game. It’s both tactical and individual, personal and as a team. It’s important to get a balance of it all.”

Palace and Chelsea face one another at Selhurst Park this weekend, and Chalobah will be ineligible to face his parent club.

But speaking about other big matches in SE25 earlier this season, the defender said: "We're always going to try to win every game. Against the top teams like Manchester United and Liverpool we have played well. We’ve created chances and it’s just that final edge and the final end product that we need to put it in the bag.

“That comes with confidence. We know how much the fans are behind us and we want to use that atmosphere and that presence to get wins.

“We’re creating chances and I think once we’ve got the confidence from taking those chances you’ll see a different side, because we’ve got the talent and we’ve got the quality.

“It’s important for us to stay cool and keep working. We take the positives from the games. We’ll try to fix where we’re leaking goals, and capitalise on the chances that we get.

“I’ve come in and felt at home straight away. The boys are a tight group and they have been really good to me. I’ve come in and slotted in nicely.”

Chalobah is the newest member of the Crystal Palace squad, but he speaks with an authority and experience which demonstrates the value he is continuing to add to Oliver Glasner’s side not just on the pitch, but off it too.

In reuniting with his old defensive partner Marc Guéhi, the Eagles have two defenders who exude calmness not just in possession of the ball, but in everything they do from kick-off to the final whistle. If they can achieve the same success they spearheaded at academy level while alongside one another at Selhurst Park, it could be a particularly profitable partnership indeed.