The last taste of major success Chelsea had was their Champions League triumph back in 2021, under manager Thomas Tuchel. The Blues beat Manchester City in the final that year, 1-0, securing their second title in the competition.
A huge part of that success was German defender, Antonio Rüdiger, who made 34 appearances in all competitions that season, scoring one goal, providing one assist, and contributing to 22 clean sheets in his 2,948 minutes played.
Rudiger ended up running down his contract, and leaving on a free to Real Madrid in 2022, but he wasn’t the only defender who left for £0 that season.
Andreas Christensen at Chelsea
Andreas Christensen joined Chelsea in 2012 from Brondby, going into the Chelsea academy system at Cobham. He made his first senior appearance for the club in 2014, leading to 161 appearances, scoring two goals, providing two assists, and totaling 12,812 minutes played.
Before becoming a huge part of Tuchel’s Chelsea side, Christensen spent two years on loan with Borussia Mönchengladbach, perfecting his craft, making 82 appearances for the German outfit, scoring seven goals, providing one assist, and totaling 7.402 minutes of football played.
Like Rudiger, Christensen was allowed to enter the final season of his contract, without extracting a fee for him, or agreeing a new deal. This led to the Denmark international leaving on a free, joining Barcelona, despite being valued at €35.00m (£29.5m) by Transfermarkt at the time of his departure.
Andreas Christensen at Barcelona
Since joining Barcelona, Christensen has made 75 appearances for the club in all competitions, scoring four goals, and providing three assists, totaling 5,150 minutes played.
Ex-Barcelona manager Xavi once hailed Christensen as “extraordinary” after their 1-0 victory over Atlético Madrid last year. The Spaniard had plenty of confidence in the Danish defender, even asking him to play in midfield 15 times last season.
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Christensen (23/24) vs Fofana (24/25) comparison |
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|---|---|---|
|
Stats (per 90 mins) |
Christensen |
Fofana |
|
Progressive Carries |
1.15 |
0.75 |
|
Progressive Passes |
5.17 |
2.75 |
|
Passes Attempted |
71.1 |
66.8 |
|
Pass Completion % |
94.4% |
91.4% |
|
Passes into Final Third |
5.43 |
4.75 |
|
Tackles |
1.26 |
0.75 |
|
Blocks |
0.97 |
1.75 |
|
Interceptions |
1.04 |
1.25 |
|
Aerials Won |
2.45 |
0.75 |
|
Stats taken from FBref |
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As Wesley Fofana missed the entirety of the 2023/24 season, this comparison is from different seasons, meaning Fofana’s numbers are based on his four appearances so far this term.
The reason for comparing the two is that Christensen’s current value is €40m (£33m) and that is more than the €25.00m (£21.1m) value of Fofana right now, per Transfermarkt. Impressively, it’s also a value worth more than new signing Jadon Sancho and striker Nicolas Jackson.
Now Fofana’s value has significantly dropped since joining Chelsea, after signing for £70m from Leicester, mainly due to injury issues keeping him off the pitch. However, even when he is on the pitch, Christensen is still averaging more progressive carries and passes per 90, more passes attempted with a higher pass completion, and more passes into the final third.
This tells us Christensen is more of a ball-playing defender, contributing heavily in build-up, and looking to progress-play between the lines. Fofana is a more defensive first type, who has excellent recovery pace, and a brilliant leg extension, which helps him make interceptions and blocks (averages more than Christensen per 90 in these metrics).
Chelsea will be very happy if Fofana can stay away from the injuries, and get back to his best, but Christensen leaving on a free, failing to even extract a fee for the now £33m-rated star is disappointing business whichever way you choose to look at it.
