Chelsea could reportedly have a January transfer headache on their hands with Andreas Christensen’s agent hinting at a possible exit.
After playing a key role for Antonio Conte last season, the 22-year-old has found playing time hard to come by so far this year as he’s made just three appearances across all competitions.
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With Maurizio Sarri preferring Antonio Rudiger and David Luiz, it remains to be seen if the situation changes moving forward, but the Dane’s agent has insisted that he either stays and gets a more prominent role or seeks a permanent exit as they will not accept another loan departure.
“If his situation doesn’t change around Christmas, we’ll obviously schedule a chat with Chelsea and say, ‘okay, what can we do for Andreas? Can we move him?’’ he is quoted as saying by the Metro.
“For me it’s not a loan again. Either it’s Chelsea or else he needs to leave. I don’t think a loan is the optimal situation for Andreas.”
Given the Europa League is well underway and Chelsea have advanced in the League Cup, there have arguably been more than enough opportunities for Christensen to make his mark and prove his worth to Sarri.
Further, as seen at Napoli, Sarri rarely moved away from his preferred centre-half partnership of Kalidou Koulibaly and Raul Albiol as evidently he knows what he likes from his players and shows great faith in them.
With that in mind, it looks bleak for Christensen at Stamford Bridge. Nevertheless, whether it’s injuries, suspensions or lack of form, there is still time for things to change between now and January, and so time will tell if he can make an impression.
Hazard price-tag touted by Wise
Meanwhile, Chelsea legend Dennis Wise has been discussing Eden Hazard’s future, and while he unsurprisingly hopes that he stays at the club for the foreseeable future, he believes that he is worth more than Neymar.
“He’s worth more than anyone. I think he’s better than Neymar – I really do,” he is quoted as saying by The Express, who tout the £200m+ price-tag.
“What he’s done in the Premier League – the top league in the world – is prove it. He’s irreplaceable. One day, unfortunately, when he wants to go he will. Hopefully we get a couple more seasons out of him – at least.”
The 27-year-old has made a fine start to the campaign, scoring eight goals and providing three assists in 10 games. With Sarri seemingly getting the best out of him, time will tell if he can take his game to the next level and perhaps extends his stay at Chelsea as a result.