Trevoh Chalobah on brotherly bond

They say family is everything and for Trevoh and Nathaniel Chalobah, that much is true.

Trevoh followed in his big brother’s footsteps in the summer when he pulled on an England shirt for the first time. Two debuts, some seven years apart.

But the Chelsea defender’s journey wouldn’t be what it is without his sibling.

“Funnily enough, for me, I didn’t really like football when I was younger until him,” said Trevoh Chalobah.

“Because he first got scouted in a football community park where he used to go all the time and when I found out he got scouted there, I said, ‘I might as well give this a try’.

“Not having the natural ability for football where he had a natural ability, for me, I had to work more on my technique and a lot of stuff, so it’s because of him that I started with football.”

The pair became the latest set of brothers since Gary and Phil Neville to have both represented the England men’s senior team when Trevoh made his debut earlier this year.

Head coach Thomas Tuchel handed Chalobah junior a start against Senegal at the City Ground in June, with the duo in esteemed company alongside the likes of the Nevilles, not to mention Sir Bobby and Jack Charlton.

“It was amazing,” explained Chalobah. “Seeing that my brother had done it, that was my next aim, to be the next one and it happened. That’s always been my goal to put on that shirt.

“When he saw that I was called up, first, he was over the moon and when I told him I was starting in that game, he was over the moon also. Obviously, him being the person that’s also put on the shirt, it’s good to share that with him.

“It’s something that we can hold in our memories and cherish it and look back one day and say, ‘yeah, we both played for England’.”

The Chalobah brothers – born into a ‘very proud’ family who would have ‘never imagined’ that both boys would go on to play for their country – enjoyed a childhood filled with football and friendship.

Born in Sierra Leone, the family relocated to the London Borough of Lambeth when Trevoh was just aged two where the pair grew up.

“It was everything growing up,” he continued. “We used to kick the football together in the park and back in school as well. We used to play football in the cage back where we lived and that was big, playing with all the players that were his age when I was young. We did everything together.

“Even to this day, we’re still on the phone talking about football and talking about our games, things we can do, things we can improve and things we’re looking forward to. We’ve always had that.”

And had his footballing career not worked out, Chalobah had another sport in mind – a sport where he holds an edge over his brother.

“I always have that feeling when a lot of people ask me, ‘what would you do if it wasn’t football?’” he mused. “I actually have no idea but funnily enough, I’m good at table tennis, so I would say table tennis.

“He’s [Nat] good but I’m very good!”

While 26 year old Trevoh’s debut came against Senegal, 31 year old Nathaniel made his senior England bow in a 3-2 win over Spain in Seville back in October 2018 while on the books at Watford.

Now, Nathaniel plays his club football at EFL Championship side Sheffield Wednesday while Trevoh remains with Chelsea – the club he joined at the age of eight and where both siblings started their professional careers.

“It’s difficult for me to get up there but if I can watch on TV, I’ll watch but he watches most of my games on TV,” added Chalobah. “He’s been to some last season, as well, if our games don’t clash.

“My debut, he watched it on TV. For his, I watched it on TV because his was against Spain away.

“Hopefully I can do it many more times. It’s always an honour to get called up and for me, it’s just about enjoying every moment because you don’t know how long it’s going to last for.”