Chelsea centre-back Thiago Silva has praised Blues teammate Trevoh Chalobah for his rise to the top level of football, labelling him 'the future of this club'.
Chalobah has been at Chelsea since 2007, joining the club at the age of eight, but he only made his official first team debut this season.
The 22-year-old spent last season out on loan at Lorient in Ligue 1, which is where Thiago Silva first heard about him.
Thiago Silva made it clear that he has been watching the youngster closely since his time at Lorient and is impressed with how far he has come.
"He is a player despite being so young who plays like an experienced professional," he told the official Chelsea website, "and that makes me really happy because I'm there alongside him playing the same position and I can see how he's performing, how he's developing.
"Not just anybody can do this, can step up to a team like Chelsea and perform and he's not doing it because of my help, he's doing it because of his own abilities.
"He is a player who I knew from France where he was playing at a lower level for Lorient and he's made the step up and he's playing here because he deserves to.
"Some people said that he didn't have the ability to do so but he's made it because of his own capacities.
"That's something that makes me really happy because a player like Trevoh Chalobah is the future of this club."
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