Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen is reportedly ready to snub transfer offers from Premier League clubs.
The Denmark international is nearing the end of his Blues contract, and will be a very tempting free agent on the market this summer as a host of top sides show an interest in him.
According to Fabrizio Romano in the tweet below, however, it seems Christensen will snub offers from Chelsea’s rivals out of loyalty to the west London giants, with Barcelona or Bayern Munich currently looking the most likely to win the race for his signature.
See below for details as Romano suggests Christensen’s future lies away from Chelsea…
More about Andreas Christensen. Also Premier League clubs approached him as potential free agent signing – but Christensen wants to respect Chelsea, he’s not gonna consider any English club proposal. ?? #CFC
Barcelona and FC Bayern, leading the race. Decision to be made soon. https://t.co/MmWGvQiCvY
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 17, 2022
Christensen has been a useful member of Chelsea’s squad and it would be a real blow to lose him on a free, but it would be even worse if he went and strengthened one of the club’s Premier League rivals.
The specific English clubs aren’t named by Romano, but one imagines many of the other big six would be interested in the 25-year-old, especially Manchester United, who need an upgrade on under-performing duo Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof.
Chelsea also have Antonio Rudiger and Cesar Azpilicueta nearing the ends of their contracts in what could be a major defensive crisis for the club in the summer.
This is an odd thing to let happen for Chelsea, especially since there is no dominating center back on the market who is a significant upgrade on any of these players.
If there were a Virgil Van Dijk or Aymeric Laporte or Rueben Dias available, you can see Chelsea letting any one of these players go, but all three? Matthijs de Ligt is rumored to be unhappy at Juventus and he would interest Chelsea, but Juventus have struggled since signing him. Pau Torres seems like an obvious target, but top Spanish players tend to stay in Spain and got to Real Madrid or Barcelona. Would Chelsea really spend close to $150 million on two defenders when the end result might be a marginal improvement?
Rudiger is as good as any player Chelsea could buy and he is already in place and comfortable in London. Christensen is a solid player, and Azpilicueta is a long-time Blue and current captain, but seems on his way out.