Chelsea: Thiago Silva is on board, time to sell Andreas Christensen

Thiago Silva has now officially signed for Chelsea and this means it is time for the Blues to sell one of their centerbacks, preferably Andreas Christensen.

To cap off what was a busy week for Chelsea, the Blues announced the signing of Thiago Silva. Silva, 35, moves over from Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer after eight years in the French capital. The Brazilian becomes the Blues’ fourth defensive signing of the window alongside Ben Chilwell, Xavier Mbuyamba and Malang Sarr.

As is the natural flow both in life and at Stamford Bridge, when one person comes in, another must go. Therefore, with Silva’s acquisition, one of Chelsea’s centerbacks is surely set to leave the club. Of the four options—Kurt Zouma, Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger and Fikayo Tomori—to choose from, the Blues would benefit most from offloading the Dane this summer.

Christensen’s career in London looked incredibly promising for years, with many touting him as the next John Terry. However, following a brutal mistake in the Champions League knockout stage that led to Barcelona’s equalizer through Messi in 2018, Christensen has never been the same. He’s struggled with confidence and is now prone to making mistakes more often than not. What once looked like a legendary career unfolding in front of our eyes has now turned into a tragic downward spiral of a talented individual.

All of that being said, Christensen has a lot to offer another club, just not Chelsea. A change of scenery can often work wonders for athletes, one can’t help but think the Dane is in dire need of that right about now. He’s been in and out of the Blues’ squad for the last few seasons, struggling to ever string together consistent starting time. This certainly factors into his constant errors.

If the 24-year-old was able to get consistent stints of starting time on the pitch elsewhere, there’s no doubt he’d improve. On that note, he’s still yet to reach his prime. At 24, Christensen has another decade of top tier defending left in him should a club find it within the centerback. He’s too talented to continue to warm the Chelsea bench, but he’s simply not good enough to start for the Blues either.

In addition to benefitting the player, this sale makes the most financial sense for Chelsea, as well. Christensen only has two years remaining on his deal, so offloading him before he reaches both the age of 25 and the one-year mark on his contract should be prioritized. This way, the Blues are able to sell the Denmark international and maximize their profit.

Further, keeping Christensen around does absolutely nothing for Frank Lampard and his staff. It sounds a bit harsh, but it’s the reality of the situation. He’s spent the last three seasons teetering between the bench and the starting XI, it’s time that Chelsea faces the music and moves on because at this point it isn’t going to happen. Christensen isn’t going to be the centerback everyone thought he would at Chelsea, at least, not after last season.

If Chelsea fans need further proof Christensen needs to go, look no further than his performance in the pre-season friendly against Brighton. The experienced centerback started alongside Jake Clarke-Salter and somehow managed to put on a more uninspiring performance than the man who spent last season at Birmingham City. No disrespect to Clarke-Salter, but if you’re going to start at centerback for Chelsea, you’ve got to outperform a 22-year-old who played in the Championship last year.

Now that Silva is officially a blue, Chelsea needs to put all of its resources into finding a buyer for Christensen. Selling the centerback would help fund other moves the Blues have planned this summer, but also assist Christensen in getting his career back on track elsewhere.