Chelsea left-back Ian Maatsen has reportedly had a clause triggered in his contract to extend his deal by one more year, despite the player himself rejecting various offers of more long term deal due to a lack of playing time at Stamford Bridge.
This is according to a report in the Evening Standard, who also cite recent links with Barcelona, so Chelsea may have done well to tie the defender down for a bit longer in order to avoid the risk of losing him for free at the end of the season.
Maatsen impressed on loan at Burnley last season, but it remains to be seen if he can work his way into Mauricio Pochettino’s first-team set-up at Stamford Bridge any time soon.
It seems the Dutchman is highly regarded in the game if a big name like Barcelona are said to be monitoring him, so CFC might want to keep hold of him and give him more of a chance.
Ben Chilwell has had injury problems in recent times, while Marc Cucurella hasn’t been particularly impressive since joining the club last season, so there’s surely room for Maatsen to get more playing time.
It will be interesting to see, however, if the Blues are prepared to put much faith into Maatsen as he seemingly continues to refuse to commit to them.