Denmark’s loss is Chelsea’s gain as Andreas Christensen can close gap

The stand-off between Denmark’s national team players and their football association has given Andreas Christensen two additional, unexpected weeks of training with Chelsea. His country’s loss is his club’s gain.

Chelsea Football Club: Where the catalyst of success is almost always someone else’s misfortune. Denmark’s federation are the biggest loser in the dispute with their players, as second-tier players, retired players and a few futsal players will represent the Danes in the international break. Joining Denmark in the losers’ circle is David Luiz, as the Danish row gives Andreas Christensen more time to train under Maurizio Sarri before the season resumes and two additional competitions kick off.

And any time Christensen wins and Luiz loses, count Chelsea among the winners.

Antonio Rudiger and David Luiz have their World Cup exclusion to thank for initial starts under Sarri in pre-season. Rudiger continues to earn his place in the starting XI, while Luiz coasts through on luck and charisma. Christensen returned to Chelsea as the #3 centre-back through no fault of his own, and despite being among the top two out of three for most of last season.

Christensen is still making up for the difference in training time between himself and the incumbents. Until he is able to close that gap, he does not have a chance of closing the gap in the depth chart. Maurizio Sarri has said that, for as much as his system is known for its offence, the defence is significantly harder to learn. Defenders need more than “20 days of training” before they can expect to play for Sarri.

Christensen now has 10 or so days he did not plan on having to learn defensive Sarrismo. He was already a likely starter in the Europa League and Carabao Cup games. But he may be able to use this opportunity to work his way into one of Chelsea’s two upcoming Premier League fixtures against pointless (literally) West Ham and the two goals, two points in four games Cardiff City.

Christensen will have the training time alongside a prospective partner for those lower competitions, Gary Cahill. Cahill is also not on international duty after his recent retirement from the Three Lions. He, too, fell behind in Sarrismo during the World Cup and is looking to recover the time and training necessary to get back in the lineup. While Luiz will still be hanging around Stamford Bridge, he will be a marked man. Rudiger has done nothing to warrant losing his place, so Cahill and Christensen will have their eyes on Luiz’s place. Their goal will be to have Luiz covering future rounds of the Carabao Cup while they vie for the Premier League and Europa League places.

Not being able to watch Andreas Christensen in the UEFA League of Nations may be disappointing for some people (let us know if you find any). But when Chelsea start facing offensively-threatening opponents later this month and have Christensen holding down the fort, it will be so worth it.

Sooner or later, Andreas Christensen was going to make his way into Maurizio Sarri’s best XI. Thanks to the Danish federation, it may be sooner.