Yahoo Finance Chelsea planning to offer Andreas Christensen new contract as rival clubs monitor defender's situation
Chelsea are planning to offer Andreas Christensen a new contract following the defender’s superb run of form under head coach Thomas Tuchel.
Christensen’s current deal will only have a year remaining on it at the end of the season and talks are yet to have taken place over an extension.
But, aware rival clubs will be looking at Christensen’s situation, Chelsea are expected to open talks over a new contract for the 24-year-old, who is hoping to keep his place against Everton on Monday night despite Thiago Silva’s recovery from injury.
With Christensen set to play for Denmark in this summer’s European Championships, Chelsea will be aware that his number of admirers could easily increase if his long-term future is not secured.
Christensen has not put a foot wrong for Chelsea since replacing Silva in the victory over Tottenham Hotspur, when the Brazilian suffered a first-half injury.
Since Christensen has stepped into the centre of Tuchel’s three-man defence, Chelsea have only conceded once, an Antonio Rudiger own-goal, in the seven games he has played in - including clean sheets against Tottenham, Atletico Madrid, Manchester United and Liverpool.
The only other game in which Chelsea have conceded under Tuchel was against Southampton, when Kurt Zouma took over for Christensen for a single match.
Christensen has always been extremely highly rated at Chelsea and his best run of form came when he played as the central defender in a back three under former head coach Antonio Conte.
Maurizio Sarri preferred David Luiz and Antonio Rudiger in the centre of his defence in the Premier League, as he changed back to a back four, while Frank Lampard rotated between his defenders and switched between a back four and a back three.
Chelsea have been examining the transfer market for a new central defender in the summer, with David Alaba and Ibrahima Konate among those they have looked at, but Christesen, Rudiger, Cesar Azpilicueta and Silva have all performed well for Tuchel while Fikayo Tomori has earned good reviews on loan at AC Milan.
The contracts of Rudiger and captain Azpilicueta are also due to expire in 2022, leaving Chelsea with some big decisions to make over their defenders.
Silva hopes to take up the one-year extension option on his deal that runs out this summer, with his wife, Belle, hinting that she and her husband expect to stay in London.
Writing on Instagram, Belle said: “Chelsea are the best club in the world, I love them. We will be champions next year.”
Tomori, whose contract runs to 2024, is on loan at AC Milan until the end of the season, with the Italian club confirming they will hold talks over the £25million option to sign him permanently.
