Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen will see his contract expire at the end of the 2021-22 season and has been heavily linked with a move to Barcelona – but how does he compare with the club's current centre-back options?
It had initially appeared that Christensen would be signing a new deal with Chelsea but it now looks to be increasingly likely that he will leave the club this summer, according to Fabrizio Romano.
Posting on Twitter, Romano said: “Andreas Christensen has turned down proposals from English clubs to be respectful with Chelsea. He's now really close to join Barcelona as a free agent, the contract proposal's better than Bayern one.
“Final details missing – new meeting expected next week to complete the deal.”
The 25-year-old has made over 25 appearances for Chelsea this season and his imminent exit will be a blow to Thomas Tuchel and the club's supporters.
But Barcelona will have secured an excellent signing and the Denmark international would appear to be an upgrade on their current defensive options – but do the numbers support this assumption?
We've crunched the data and compared Christensen's Premier League stats for the 2021-22 season with Barcelona's existing centre-backs.
Successful tackles per 90 minutes (success rate)
Ronald Araujo – 1.6 (94.1%)
Eric Garcia – 1.0 (66.6%)
Gerard Pique – 0.7 (87.5%)
Andreas Christensen – 0.6 (85.7%)
Successful aerial duels per 90 minutes (success rate)
Gerard Pique – 3.6 (65.5%)
Andreas Christensen – 3.1 (52.5%)
Ronald Araujo – 2.5 (73.5%)
Eric Garcia – 1.6 (64%)
Interceptions per 90 minutes
Andreas Christensen – 2.0
Gerard Pique – 1.7
Eric Garcia – 1.6
Ronald Araujo – 0.8
Fouls per 90 minutes
Andreas Christensen – 2.0
Eric Garcia – 1.6
Gerard Pique – 1.2
Ronald Araujo – 0.7
Clearances per 90 minutes
Gerard Pique – 3.9
Andreas Christensen – 3.2
Ronald Araujo – 2.6
Eric Garcia – 2.1
Passes per 90 minutes (accuracy)
Eric Garcia – 78.9 (93.3%)
Andreas Christensen – 73.5 (87.8%)
Gerard Pique – 71.6 (89.7%)
Ronald Araujo – 69.5 (90.9%)
Goals
Ronald Araujo – 2
Gerard Pique – 1
Andreas Christensen – 0
Eric Garcia – 0