Andreas Christensen’s father-agent pushing for January exit from Chelsea

It’s not the first time Andreas Christensen’s father has sent a warning regarding his son’s playing time, and it probably won’t be the last. He is, after all, his son’s agent, too, and young Andreas has not yet regained his first-choice status under Sarri that he enjoyed for much of last season under Conte.

Andreas is clearly not happy with that, even if he’s been playing once a week over the past month (as pointed out by Sarri earlier today), and the father/agent is more than happy to pull on that narrative thread.

“I am convinced that we will try to move Andreas [in] winter. For Christmas, something else must be done, if he doesn’t play.”

“He is 22, and he has played three seasons. He has played 80 matches in the Bundesliga and over 40 matches for Chelsea. So we cannot just say that now we save Andreas away for a whole season on the bench.”

“If he is to continue his development, we have to say he has to play. Of course, we have to look at the situation.”

As Sten tells it, his phone is already ringing off the hook. Gladbach are of course interested to have Andreas come back after two successful years on loan there, while AS Roma have featured in rumors already as well. But as much as he would like to his son to leave, he also warns that the young man will not be cheap.

“Germany is very well matched to the style of play, as is Spain...

“Andreas would not be cheap, and there are probably not many clubs that can afford to buy him. I do not want to name any clubs, but I can say there is a lot of interest in Andreas. The phone is not silent at the moment, I will say. So there are plenty of possibilities.”

-Sten Christensen; source: TV3 Sport via Google Translate

It’s a bit silly that this situation has devolved into such strong opinions after just a few months. Christensen may not be first-choice, but he’s very much in the rotation and if he plays well, not only will he help Chelsea progress in the cup competitions and in Europe (and thus give himself more playing time), he will serve notice of his quality for Sarri’s consideration for league matches as well. There are no teams where playing time would be guaranteed for him, either, regardless of what his father might think.

Hopefully cooler heads will prevail and continue Christensen’s journey as the first Chelsea Academy graduate to successfully transition from the youth team to the senior team (via a loan spell) since John Terry (unless we count Ryan Bertrand, in which case Christensen is the second).