It seems all but official at this point that young Andreas Christensen will return to Chelsea this summer to finally begin his long-awaited ascent into the first-team. Even Borussia Monchengladbach general manager Max Eberl has accepted that as fact after a long-standing public pursuit of the defender’s permanent signature.
Or has he?
“He still has a three year contract with Chelsea from the summer, but we do not give up yet, it’s not futile.”
-Max Eberl; source: SportBILD via Sport Witness
Admirable spirit, to be sure, but probably a futile chase, despite assertions to the contrary.
In fact, even though Eberl says what he says, the full story seems to be concentrating on other targets Gladbach might want to bring in on loan, including Chelsea’s own Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Eberl also talks about a special relationship cooperation between Gladbach and Chelsea over future loanees — a relationship that began with Thorgan Hazard but one that would also depend on not making it complicated for us to re-integrate Christensen.