why Andreas Christensen is a mine (in every way)

BarcelonaFor performance and for arriving on a free transfer, Andreas Christensen is Barça’s best signing this season. After the World Cup, the 26-year-old center has made an indisputable place at the center of the defense. The Dane has accumulated eight consecutive League games as a starter and completing the 90 minutes. In fact, of the 20 matches in the championship in which he has been available, he has started in the starting eleven in 15. His reliability and the great level he is showing under the orders of Xavi Hernández have earned him the praise of his coach, Kasper Hjulmand: “He’s among the best centre-backs in the world, if not the best. If I was at any club and had to choose a centre-back, I’d choose him. And now he’s come to a team where you really appreciate the way interpret this position.”

That Christensen plays for Barça is no coincidence. Despite the fact that it wasn’t until last season when the pact was sealed for his arrival as a free agent in the summer, Barcelona’s interest in incorporating him dates back more than a year ago. Contacts began when he was playing on loan from Chelsea at Borussia Mönchengladbach (2015-2017). Robert Fernández, then Barça’s technical secretary, already met with the player’s father, Sten. The London outfit, however, were not prepared to let slip a footballer who was making rapid progress in the Bundesliga, where he alternated between the position of central and pivot.

At the same time, Albert Capellas, who was then working in the coaching staff of the Danish Brondby, also began to follow in the footsteps of the young Andreas Christensen. The player’s father, partner of staff de Capellas, urged him to see his son and the Catalan coach was quick to grasp his potential. “Despite being very young, you could already sense the type of player he could become. He was a footballer who had that calmness that is needed to be a professional. By this I do not mean that he is slow, because he is not: he is a fast defender. I mean he’s one of those players who knows how to score the timings of the match when they have the ball. He’s fine, he gives order, he’s very technical, he’s gifted for getting the ball out…”, recounts Capellas in a conversation with ARA. Then, the coach from Avinyó, who had worked years before in Barça training football, he already warned his friends at the club that Christensen “was made to play for Barça”.

Christensen’s progress with Chelsea

While the Danish defender continued to progress with Chelsea, Barça continued to follow his lead. Before the outbreak of the pandemic, the sports management – with Éric Abidal and Ramon Planes – met again with the player’s father. Marina Granovskaia, former right hand of ex-Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, estimated the exit price between 20 and 25 million euros. Shortly after, the pandemic would arrive and the economic reality of the Blaugrana entity would experience a downward spiral that stopped the possibility of signing him.

But Barça would not give up and the player, seduced by Barcelona’s interest, did not pay much attention to the latest renewal offers from a Chelsea that experienced the transfer of its property after the sanctions on Abramovich for the Russian invasion in Ukraine Despite the fact that Thomas Tuchel, ex-coach bluetried to convince him in personal talks to continue in London, Christensen had already decided not to extend the link knowing that Barça was waiting for him.

Capellas, who with the help of Joan Laporta returned last summer to work for Barça’s training football for a few months after managing the Denmark under-21 team (2019-2021), was one of the people who most advised his signing. Both the current sports management, led by Mateu Alemany and Jordi Cruyff – one of the main architects of the Dane’s incorporation – and Xavi himself were delighted with Christensen’s arrival. “It was clear that his style of play was ideal for Barça. The Christensen-Xavi duo had to be perfect,” recalls Capellas.

The danger of being a zero-cost signing

The central midfielder’s good season has attracted the interest of several clubs, especially the Premier League, who are no stranger to Barça’s delicate financial situation, which has recently seen how it still cannot sign Gavi’s new contract. Although he is considered non-transferable from the coaching staff, the difficulties with him fair play they turn Christensen into a footballer for whom the Blaugrana managers would agree, at least, to listen to big offers because his sale would mean a net income. This is explained by the fact that, like Franck Kessie, the Dane arrived as a free agent and, therefore, the club neither paid for his transfer nor has amounts pending repayment.

In fact, as already explained by the ARA, the sports management has a bullet in the back room for the central position. This is the 31-year-old Athletic Club defender Iñigo Martínez, who is out of contract and with whom Mateu Alemany has a verbal commitment. Christensen is happy at Barça and has a contract until 2026, but his may be a similar situation to the one that already happened with Aubameyang, for whom the club prioritized making a drawer.