Andreas Christensen: Chelsea defender stood himself down from selection for FA Cup final despite not being injured | Football News
2 min readAndreas Christensen stood himself down from selection for Chelsea’s FA Cup
final despite the defender not being injured.
Christensen was not involved in the match squad for Saturday’s 6-5 penalty shoot-out loss to Liverpool.
Thiago Silva played through the pain of a knee problem sustained during the punishing Wembley clash, with Malang Sarr and Cesar Azpilicueta the Blues’ defensive options on the bench.
Christensen is understood to be poised to complete a free-transfer move to Barcelona when the season finishes, bringing to an end a decade at Stamford Bridge.
The 26-year-old has battled a number of minor injury and illness issues in recent weeks, but his withdrawal from Saturday’s crunch clash left the Blues short-handed.
Chelsea host Leicester on Thursday and Watford on Sunday in a bid to close out a third-place Premier League finish, with Christensen’s availability now uncertain.
The 54-cap centre-back can still have the chance to add a final word to his Chelsea career, but his absence on Saturday proved a surprise given his lack of injury.
Todd Boehly is primed to complete his £4.25 billion takeover of Chelsea, but while the summer should yield a number of new playing arrivals at Stamford Bridge, manager Thomas Tuchel admitted a sizeable gap still remains on second-placed Liverpool.
Antonio Rudiger will join Real Madrid, to add to Christensen’s impending Barcelona switch.
Asked if Chelsea could catch up with Liverpool in one summer’s transfer window, Tuchel replied: « It’s maybe impossible, I have to say, maybe impossible.
« They are improving their squad in every transfer window they have.
« It seems like we are losing key players. We are losing, of course, Toni, we’re losing Andreas. So this is tough and we already have a gap to close. »
But asked if incoming Chelsea owner Boehly shares his own ambitions for the Blues, Tuchel added: « He has big money for the club, so I don’t think he is keen to drop the ambition.
« That would be a big surprise, so no, I don’t doubt this.
« We will share our opinion in more detail over the next weeks and I am sure he is as ambitious to build a competitive Chelsea for the highest level. »