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Should Chelsea lose Andreas Christensen in order to sign Inter Milan’s Antonio Candreva?
It has been a mixed summer for Chelsea’s youth prospects, with lots of transfer activity involving the younger players at the club.
Having overseen a Premier League title victory in his first season in England, Antonio Conte has begun refining his side ahead of the next campaign.
His ruthless eye has seen lots of young players leave the club, with Dominic Solanke allowed to leave for Liverpool and Nathan Ake being sold to Bournemouth.
Many youngsters have been sent on loan also. Kurt Zouma and Tammy Abraham, along with others, signed new long-term contracts with the Blues before heading out on a temporary deal.
This trend of letting potential talents leave could be set to continue as well, with Italian outlet reporting that Conte will offer Andreas Christensen in a swap deal for Antonio Candreva.
The Italian winger knows Chelsea’s manager well from the time they spent together during Conte’s spell as the Italian national coach.
Candreva was a key part of the 3-4-3 formation Italy employed at the European Championships in 2016. The Inter man played a right wing-back role and was integral to his country’s impressive counter-attacking tactic.
Yet, would it be worth Chelsea losing Andreas Christensen in order to reunite the two Italians?
The 21-year-old has, so far, played a very little for his parent club, having spent the past two seasons on loan at Borussia Monchengladbach.
With that being said, his performances for the German outfit will have certainly been noted by Chelsea, as the centre-back impressed over the two campaigns he spent in the Bundesliga.
In his first season, Christensen started all 31 of his league appearances, scoring three times. While this tally is decent, goals are not the reason he was key to Monchengladbach.
The defensive aspects of his games were superb, winning 60% of his duels, while also completing 130 clearances and 82 interceptions.
The young prospect would go on to have an equally impressive second campaign in Germany, appearing 31 times in the league. In the 2016-17 season, he made more tackles and won more of his duels.
Some fine development in Germany would’ve surely been what Chelsea were after, before bringing him into the first-team. Yet, after signing Antonio Rudiger, Christensen could be set to leave.
Letting the Danish man may be a mistake, however, as the Blues, who play with three centre-backs, are a little light in this department, with only four suitable players for the role.
If injuries were to set in, Christensen could play a key role, meaning he’d be more important than Candreva, if the Italian was to join.
Conte has Victor Moses, who was in fine form last season, and Cesar Azpilicueta available to play the right wing-back role.
With depth in the position Candreva would play in and Christensen ready to impress, do Chelsea really need to sacrifice another youngster for an ageing Italian?