Barcelona set to sign Chelsea superstar in January, Chelsea identify €80 million Eden Hazard replacement and more: Transfer Roundup, 17 December 2018

By Shambhu Ajith

Modified Dec 17, 2018 14:57 GMT

Ernesto Valverde will likely have a busy winter

Barcelona want Christensen on loan

The Guardian had reported that Barcelona are interested in Andreas Christensen. Now, according to Sport, Barcelona have launched a formal loan offer for the Chelsea centre-back.

The Dane has been a benchwarmer this season and has hardly featured for this Chelsea side under the tutelage of Maurizio Sarri. Barcelona are actively pursuing a centre-back as Samuel Umtiti continues to be sidelined due to an injury.

A lot of players have consequently been linked with La Blaugrana and Christensen is one of the more prominent among them. However, the report adds that the Blues are not ready to offload the Dane on a loan deal in January. But they could be willing to let him leave on a permanent basis.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

Know More

Edited by Sripad