Ben Chilwell: Missing out on Planet Cup with England has created me stronger

Chelsea left-back Ben Chilwell believes he is mentally stronger obtaining missed out on playing for England at the Planet Cup in Qatar.

The 26-year-old was ruled out of the Planet Cup following a hamstring injury he sustained in Chelsea’s two-1 Champions League victory more than Dinamo Zagreb in November.

Chilwell watched the Planet Cup from Chelsea’s coaching camp in Abu Dhabi alongside teammate Reece James, who also missed out on a spot in the squad via injury.

The left-back is determined to take positives from the expertise of getting left out and has ambitions to win trophies with his nation.

He mentioned: “Mentally it is quite difficult and all footballers go via periods of their careers when it is mentally difficult and you have got to be resilient and attempt to come out the other side stronger.

“That’s the way I’ve attempted to appear at the injuries I’ve had, attempting to spin them into constructive circumstances mentally and physically so I can come back prepared to enable Chelsea and England.

“I’m desperate (to win) to do it the very same way every person right here is desperate to do some thing with England.

“Fortunately I’ve been fortunate sufficient to expertise winning a significant trophy in the Champions League with Chelsea and of course I want that feeling once more and I’m going to give my most effective up till the Euros to enable myself and England.

“I’m not the only 1 that feels we’re due to win 1 of these significant trophies quickly and hopefully we can do that.”

England will be playing Italy and Ukraine in their March Euro 2024 qualifiers, with the former getting a repeat of the 2020 final at Wembley Stadium.

Chilwell believes the difficult fixtures are the fantastic chance for England to make a statement.

“I believe these are two fantastic fixtures for us,” Chilwell added.

“These are the nations that we want to be beating and have to be beating if we want to win the significant trophies.

“We’re going to have to play them in the subsequent 12 or 13 months whether or not it is in the qualifiers or the tournament.

“They are two excellent games and there’s no improved way for us to start out the campaign.”

England play Italy on March 23, followed by a match against Ukraine 3 days later.

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(Photo: Getty Photos)