Andreas Christensen

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I'm probably swimming against the tide here, but really I don't get the hype about Christensen from those two games. Yes he put in a few good tackles but his positional sense and decision making were pretty poor, imo. Don't get me wrong, the boy clearly has the physical abilities to become a great CB and there is still every chance that he could, but I just saw nothing from him to make me think: "Wow, this kid will definitely be in our first team squad in 2-3 years".

[The only place to be 11,313]

I'm probably swimming against the tide here, but really I don't get the hype about Christensen from those two games. Yes he put in a few good tackles but his positional sense and decision making were pretty poor, imo. Don't get me wrong, the boy clearly has the physical abilities to become a great CB and there is still every chance that he could, but I just saw nothing from him to make me think: "Wow, this kid will definitely be in our first team squad in 2-3 years".

Positional sense and decision making come with time. He has the physical and technical skills needed and has looked good at centre-back for the youth team. Too early to say at this time but he's got a good chance of making it.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Positional sense and decision making come with time. He has the physical and technical skills needed and has looked good at centre-back for the youth team. Too early to say at this time but he's got a good chance of making it.

Yes, I agree. I may have phrased my first post wrongly, but that is more or less what I intended to say. Some people on twitter saying that he could be with the first team the season after the next and calling him the Danish "wonder boy" is way over the top. A good performance for an 18yo but certainly nothing out of this world.

[themightyblue 443]

Yes, I agree. I may have phrased my first post wrongly, but that is more or less what I intended to say. Some people on twitter saying that he could be with the first team the season after the next and calling him the Danish "wonder boy" is way over the top. A good performance for an 18yo but certainly nothing out of this world.

You just said it yourself. He was up against Tevez, Aguero, Dzeko who are some of the best strikers in England, some would argue in the world and he gave a good account of himself. For an 18 year old, making his first starts for the club at first team level, that is very impressive. Don't think those comments being made are way off the mark

[CHOULO19 24,332]

You just said it yourself. He was up against Tevez, Aguero, Dzeko who are some of the best strikers in England, some would argue in the world and he gave a good account of himself. For an 18 year old, making his first starts for the club at first team level, that is very impressive. Don't think those comments being made are way off the mark

He also made quite a few mistakes and a couple of them led to goals (which are unimportant). He was okay, but certainly not overly impressive for me.

[themightyblue 443]

He also made quite a few mistakes and a couple of them led to goals (which are unimportant). He was okay, but certainly not overly impressive for me.

Like I said, it was his debut for the first team against some of the best strikers in the world. Mistakes were bound to happen, especially playing in a team who rested so many players and were suffering from fatigue as well as playing to 'entertain' rather than keep structure and organisation. The positives far outweighed the negatives from the two matches given the circumstances and the fact he's only just turned 17 (was 16 a month ago)

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Like I said, it was his debut for the first team against some of the best strikers in the world. Mistakes were bound to happen, especially playing in a team who rested so many players and were suffering from fatigue as well as playing to 'entertain' rather than keep structure and organisation. The positives far outweighed the negatives from the two matches given the circumstances and the fact he's only just turned 17 (was 16 a month ago)

True. I think that RLC stole his thunder a bit as well.

[Styles 9,790]

I wouldn't read too much into the friendly games. For me he confirmed what he is; a very good ball playing CB. That level of composure in a young player is unreal. He might not have looked as solid defensively as we would all like but he's 17 and was playing against a, surprisingly, extremely motivated Man City side. What was promising is he did very well with Cahill alongside him. If he can play with an experienced no-nonsense beside him it could help develop his game further.

[calculatingInfinity 1,443]

Chelsea youngster Andreas Christensen has put pen to paper and signed his first professional deal binding him to the club 'till 2016.

Father/agent Sten Christensen tells Sporten.dk: "28 clubs were interested which meant we were in a good position. It's a great deal"

"Mourinho is the third manager he has had over a small period of time in the club. Di Matteo and Benitez believed in him, so as a parent I was excited to see about Mourinho."

"Mourinho had seen him both the u21 team and the in US and he had been very pleased".

[The Chels 2,502]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2605028/Meet-Andreas-Christensen-18-year-old-Chelsea-defender-20-000-week-never-played-team-wont-time-soon.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

I hope he makes it at CFC just to prove that prick Ashton wrong

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I hope he makes it at CFC just to prove that prick Ashton wrong

He's not wrong. Do you really expect any of our youngsters anywhere near the first team next season? Jose can take them on preseason tours and talk about youth integration, but we all know that none of them would get near the first team during the season.

If Kalas, who is not really a "youngster" anymore but has considerable experience and who was supposedly promised at least 10 starts by Jose got two minutes of playing time in the league cup. What hope do the likes of Christensen and Ake hold?

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

Really, Daily Fail? From all the Liverpool ass-licking and "Win it for Stevie G - Captain, Leader, Legend" to mocking the Chelsea Academy? I get that Christensen earns in two months more than Neil Ashton makes in a year, but come on? What's next? A dig at Mourinho and his personal life before signing for Leiria? Or the fact that Cech should have died at the Madejski? Fucking pricks, I can't wait for the moment when Jose and his army will leave those scousers at Anfield (and all the media) in tears.

[Viper22 2,418]

He's not wrong. Do you really expect any of our youngsters anywhere near the first team next season? Jose can take them on preseason tours and talk about youth integration, but we all know that none of them would get near the first team during the season.

If Kalas, who is not really a "youngster" anymore but has considerable experience and who was supposedly promised at least 10 starts by Jose got two minutes of playing time in the league cup. What hope do the likes of Christensen and Ake hold?

Lots of what ifs but I truly believe that with a bit of managerial stability we'd have a lot more youth integration. Think Kalas has a good chance of being played a fair few times next season as JT is getting on a bit and Jose finally seems to agree with most CFC fans that Luiz isn't to be trusted at CB. Hopefully he's the 3rd choice CB for next season with Zouma/Christensen/Ake the 4th choice. I remain hopeful if Mou is commited to the club for the long term (which I really do think he is).

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Really, Daily Fail? From all the Liverpool ass-licking and "Win it for Stevie G - Captain, Leader, Legend" to mocking the Chelsea Academy? I get that Christensen earns in two months more than Neil Ashton makes in a year, but come on? What's next? A dig at Mourinho and his personal life before signing for Leiria? Or the fact that Cech should have died at the Madejski? Fucking pricks, I can't wait for the moment when Jose and his army will leave those scousers at Anfield (and all the media) in tears.

Ashton is actually a Chelsea fan. And the points he raised, while he did put them in a poor manner, are points that most Chelsea fans have talked about at one point or the other. Got absolutely nothing to do with Liverpool.

Lots of what ifs but I truly believe that with a bit of managerial stability we'd have a lot more youth integration. Think Kalas has a good chance of being played a fair few times next season as JT is getting on a bit and Jose finally seems to agree with most CFC fans that Luiz isn't to be trusted at CB. Hopefully he's the 3rd choice CB for next season with Zouma/Christensen/Ake the 4th choice. I remain hopeful if Mou is commited to the club for the long term (which I really do think he is).

Kalas is leaving in the summer. He's made it clear that he wants nothing to do with the club after this season and honestly I can't blame him. Zouma will most likely be loaned out which is the best thing for him, imo as he will probably have a similar season to Kalas if he stays.

You have every right to hope, but everything in the experiences of the past decade suggests that it will be the opposite. I will get attacked for this, but the fact that Jose is our manager makes it even less likely that any of the youngsters will ever see first team action. Like it or not he's failed/refused to integrate youth in his time at Chelsea and I think that has a lot to do with the character and experience he likes his teams to have. The fact that the FSW who knew he was leaving at the end of the season cared more about giving youngsters chances speaks volumes.

[Viper22 2,418]

Kalas is leaving in the summer. He's made it clear that he wants nothing to do with the club after this season and honestly I can't blame him. Zouma will most likely be loaned out which is the best thing for him, imo as he will probably have a similar season to Kalas if he stays.

You have every right to hope, but everything in the experiences of the past decade suggests that it will be the opposite. I will get attacked for this, but the fact that Jose is our manager makes it even less likely that any of the youngsters will ever see first team action. Like it or not he's failed/refused to integrate youth in his time at Chelsea and I think that has a lot to do with the character and experience he likes his teams to have. The fact that the FSW who knew he was leaving at the end of the season cared more about giving youngsters chances speaks volumes.

I'm going to have to disagree with the statement of Mourinho refusing to integrate youth. At Madrid he brought in Varane at 18 years old which was a massively bold move at probably the biggest club in Europe especially at the expense of Carvalho. At Chelsea in his first spell I seem to remember him playing a lot of young englishmen too, most of which were already at the club when he arrived (Parker, Joe Cole, Johnson, Bridge off hand). I must admit I didn't follow much of his time at Inter so I have no idea what he did there but I just think it's a tad unfair for people to accuse Mourinho for not bringing through youth when he's never been at a club for more than 3 years. We all know that owners demand success immeadiately and if you try to integrate youth and you get a few bad results the axe will come down so it's almost pointless to try sometimes.

I am sad about the situation with Kalas this season but lets be honest who would've thought that JT and Cahill would be pretty much fit all year round? I would've bet on at least one of them being out for a while which would've meant that Kalas would have got a lot more game time.

Not attacking you here, or overly defending Mourinho, we'll both have to wait and see, but I just have high hopes for some of our players to be integrate in when some of our older, current players retire/leave the club.

[Pizy 18,368]

He's not wrong. Do you really expect any of our youngsters anywhere near the first team next season? Jose can take them on preseason tours and talk about youth integration, but we all know that none of them would get near the first team during the season.

If Kalas, who is not really a "youngster" anymore but has considerable experience and who was supposedly promised at least 10 starts by Jose got two minutes of playing time in the league cup. What hope do the likes of Christensen and Ake hold?

To be fair to José regarding that 10 games promise, I'm sure even he didn't expect JT to roll back the years and perform as well as he did years ago. He probably really did expect Kalas to play.

[lucio 5,418]

To be fair to José regarding that 10 games promise, I'm sure even he didn't expect JT to roll back the years and perform as well as he did years ago. He probably really did expect Kalas to play.

and he said that before kalas broke his leg