Can Chilwell rediscover Champions League-winning form?

"He played wing-back under Thomas Tuchel when they [Chelsea] won the Champions League," Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner pointed out about loan signing Ben Chilwell at his Friday news conference

It is easy to forget this fact, or overlook that it only happened three-and-a-half years ago in May 2021.

When Chilwell arrived in west London in August 2020, he had a reputation as one of the country's most exciting young defenders. Having made his England debut in September 2018, he was earmarked as a possible Three Lions left-back for years to come.

A player always conditioned more to attack than defend, Chilwell assisted from the bench on his Chelsea debut in a League Cup win over Barnsley, then scored and assisted on his Premier League debut for the club against Palace.

That season, across 42 appearances, Chilwell scored four times and assisted seven more, and formed part of the best defence in Europe following Tuchel's appointment in January.

They conceded just eight goals in 18 league games between his arrival - a mere two in seven Champions League knockout matches - while Chilwell and fellow full-back Reece James became key outlets in attack.

Indeed, he scored an important goal in the quarter-final win over Porto before largely nullifying Vinicius Junior across two semi-final legs and performing admirably in the final, where Chelsea beat Manchester City.

This momentum continued at the start of the 2021-22 season with Chilwell scoring in three consecutive Premier League games in October. Having netted on the final day of the previous season, it meant he had scored in each of his past four Premier League appearances. He said later that he was competing with James to finish the season as the club's top scorer.

However, his career trajectory changed with a ruptured cruciate ligament injury in November 2021, ending his campaign.

Despite being named vice-captain in August 2023, he has never rediscovered his Champions League-winning form or adjusted to each new Blues manager.

Under Glasner, he will have the opportunity to play in a familiar system and adopt a position of seniority for the first time in several seasons. If he displaces or shifts current incumbent Tyrick Mitchell that is - a point the Austrian emphasised in his news conference.

And he's still only 28, so in theory a return to form would allow plenty of time to rebuild his career.

On an entirely unrelated note, I wonder who the England manager is now...