Personally, if I am Ben Chilwell right now, I would be looking at the situation with a bit of fear in my mind.
Chelsea have just spent £60m odd on signing a world class new left wing-back, a player who in my opinion, is better than Chilwell, and I highly rate Chilwell.
Of course, Marc Cucurella can also play as a left centre back and there will be moments when he plays there. But I think you have to look at the reality here, and the reality is that Cucurella is now Chelsea’s first choice left wing-back, over Chilwell, who becomes the number two.
Factor in as well, Chilwell is still recovering from a very serious injury and taking some time to get back to full peak condition, so there is that aspect that could also slow him up this season and right now.
On the flipside though, Chilwell just needs to look at this and treat it as a big challenge, and make himself challenge and play even better so that he can keep on fighting for a spot. And I think he will do just that, because he has a great mentality.
But it’s going to be very tough for him, and I think his role is going to change this season as more of a rotation/backup option to Cucurella. Yes, he will get plenty of game time still, and he will know that at a club like Chelsea there will always be competition, but I am sure there will be some fear in his mind as well right now.
It will be a tough one for him to take, but it’s all about how he reacts now and keeps pushing.
It’s called depth. See Kante and Kovacic. Quality sides have quality depth.