Barcelona are reportedly weighing up the prospect of signing Andreas Christensen from Chelsea in the January transfer window.
According to a report by Spanish outlet Fichajes, Barcelona’s pursuit of Andreas Christensen could be accelerated. The Catalan giants are considering approaching Chelsea for the Danish centre-back over a move in the January transfer window instead of waiting till the summer to secure his services.
Andreas Christensen joined Chelsea from Brondby IF in July 2012 but had to wait until the 2017/18 season to establish a foothold in the first-team setup at Stamford Bridge. After impressing on loan at Borussia Monchengladbach from 2015 to 2017, the 25-year-old has not looked back.
To date, Christensen has made 146 appearances for Chelsea, chipping in with one goal and two assists in the process. However, the Blues are in a precarious position over the Danish centre-back’s long-term future as he is in the final year of his contract, with developments over a renewal being slow. Such a situation has captured the attention of Barcelona.
The interest from Barcelona is understandable, considering Gerard Pique is in the twilight of his illustrious career. While Eric Garcia was brought in as a possible long-term successor for the former Manchester United defender, the Spanish international has been largely unconvincing since arriving at Camp Nou.
With Samuel Umtiti not featuring in Xavi Hernandez’s plans and Clement Lenglet also facing an uncertain future at the club, it behoves Barcelona to invest in a centre-back. To that end, the Catalan giants have recently been linked with several central defenders, including Aymeric Laporte, with Christensen also a viable target.
However, Barcelona could launch the offensive in January instead of waiting till the summer transfer window to sign the Chelsea defender on a free transfer. In foresight, such a decision might be well-founded, considering Christensen is also a target for Chelsea’s Premier League rivals Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
But to sign the 25-year-old, Barcelona will need to offload at least one centre-back and are hoping to get either Umtiti or Lenglet off their books in January. However, if they fail to do so, the pursuit of Christensen will remain focused on sealing a Bosman move in the summer, and it will be interesting to see what the future holds for the Chelsea defender.
