Chelsea have ‘little leverage’ in Andreas Christensen contract extension negotiations — report

It’s been a wonderful six months or so for Andreas Christensen, who’s managed to not only reestablish his credentials as a promising young defender (just turned 25 in April) but also play a key role in Chelsea winning the Champions League and finishing in the top four. He’s also followed that up with a strong run at the European Championships with Denmark, including a thunderbolt of a goal against Russia. (Denmark take on the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals in just a few minutes.)

Christensen has yet to score in 127 Chelsea appearances, but more concerningly, he has just one year left on his Chelsea contract — just like all the other center backs on the team not named Kurt Zouma, which is an even more concerning situation.

The club were reportedly “planning” to offer a new contract back in March, but while it sounds like we have indeed put something on the table, it’s evidently yet to truly entice the player who joined Chelsea back in 2012 as a 16-year-old. The Athletic confirm that we have “initiated talks about an extension” but have “little leverage” in the situation to convince him to sign.

Christensen can certainly command higher wages now than six months ago, and would presumably not be short of suitors were he available on the transfer market. While he seems happy enough at Chelsea, the situation could become even more delicate if we cannot agree an extension soon — surely we would not want to risk losing him for free after next season.