ENGLAND and Chelsea starting defender Levi Colwill insisted moving back to Southampton this year has "meant the world" to him.

Southampton-born Colwill, 21, has played every minute in the Premier League for the Blues this campaign, closing in on his 50th top-flight appearance.

Colwill travels from Hampshire to Cobham daily instead of living in the footballer-heavy Surrey suburbs and credits his family for his meteoric rise.

He said: “I recently moved back to Southampton, so I’m around all the people I grew up with, being connected with them again is what life is about for me.

“Growing up as a player at City Central in Southampton, with my mates, was the best time of my life. I’m really happy I’ve gone back.

"Seeing my friends and family so much more, that’s probably reflected on the pitch. It’s helped me so much in my career and helped me enjoy football like I did.

“My family are from Southampton and still live near there, so I’ve moved back into my family home and do the travel in every day.

“It’s all right. Everyone thinks it is worse than it actually is, but it is all right," he insisted, when asked about the M3 commute. 

“No matter how long a day I’ve had when I get back and see my dog and my mum, dad and little brother, it just means the world to me.”

Colwill's uncles, Barry, Byron and Dan Mason, play for local non-league side Sholing. Colwill joined the club as an associate director this summer. 

The youngster has also been called up to both of Lee Carsley's Three Lions squads and is set to earn his fourth cap in the Nations League against Greece.

Colwill is enjoying interim boss Carsley’s “arrogance” in believing he has the best players in the world at his disposal, following Gareth Southgate's departure.

The pair won the European Under-21 Championship together last year and Colwill has hailed his “amazing manager”.

“Obviously I’ve known him a long time now. He gave me my England Under-21s debut, he’s played me here,” Colwill explained.

“I’ve got a very good relationship with him, there’s a lot of trust in there. He’s an amazing person, an amazing manager and I’ve got no bad words to say about him.

"He’s won me an Under-21 Euro Championship, he’s picked me for two camps, so he’s an amazing person, an amazing manager.

“I think the lads really like him. I do and I can only really talk about myself. I trust him and we’ll see what happens in the future.

“He’s a very calm person. I think he brings that to the team. An amazing person and a strong-minded manager. He knows how he wants to play and how it matches the players we’ve got.

“He has a bit of arrogance about the team and himself, in terms of, ‘we’ve got the best players in the world’, and we all believe that. We can take that next step to winning a huge competition.”