According to Sport, FC Barcelona have made a formal bid for Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen. The Danish international has struggled to establish himself as a first team regular under Maurizio Sarri this season while the Spanish champions are keen to add more options to their defensive department, especially after the injury to key defender Samuel Umtiti.
Christensen will certainly be delighted to be linked with a move to Barcelona but is it really a good move for the young defender?
Christensen to Barcelona: A good move?
Despite leading the table by three points, Barcelona have struggled with inconsistency this season. In fact, only underperforming Real Madrid have conceded as many goals(19) as the Blaugrana amongst La Liga’s top seven teams so far.
Much of it, however, can be attributed to Umtiti’s lack of fitness as the Frenchman has featured in only eight games this season, which has forced Ernesto Valverde to use Clement Lenglet as his first-choice defender alongside Gerard Pique.
Thomas Vermaelen, on the other hand, is not a reliable option while Pique is already heading into the final phase of his career, meaning the Spanish champions could certainly use someone like Christensen in the long-run.
The Danish international is known for his excellent ball-playing quality that tunes in perfectly with Barcelona’s possession-based game. But, the 22-year-old is also known for his impressive positional awareness, which is another key aspect of Barcelona’s gameplay, meaning Christensen, to some extent, is a tailor-made fit for the Blaugrana.
Should Christensen leave Chelsea?
Christensen has featured in only one league game this season, thanks to David Luiz’s surprising re-emergence under Sarri. Indeed, the Brazilian has been preferred ahead of Christensen this season, having already made 16 league appearances so far.
That being said, the former PSG defender is also heading towards the final phase of his career. Therefore, Chelsea could potentially have a readymade replacement for the Brazilian defender and even more so considering Christensen’s technical and tactical awareness, which makes him an ideal player under Sarri.
However, the 22-year-old has often struggled in the Premier League, thanks to his lack of physicality and it is only natural to think that this could be a huge problem for the defender if he is to make a breakthrough in the English top flight.
At Barcelona, however, Christensen is unlikely to face such difficulties as the Catalan giants often operate with heaps of possession while most Spanish teams like to defend-deep instead of applying pressure right from the start. Therefore, a move to Catalonia certainly makes sense as he aims to take the next step in his career.
