Loan club expect Chelsea to allow young defender to stay despite January recall option
In this story:
Chelsea have the option to recall young centre-back Aaron Anselmino from his loan at Borussia Dortmund in January, but the German club expect him to stay until the end of the season, according to reports.
Anselmino has made nine appearances for Dortmund this season across all competitions, seven of which were as a starter.
The seemingly limited minutes are not because he is struggling at the loan club, however.
The 20-year-old mostly plays when he is available, but he has had a couple of injury issues already since the start of the season.
Back in September, he picked up a muscular injury that forced him to miss seven games, and recently, he sustained a hamstring injury and has missed Dortmund's last two games.
According to Sky Germany, there is a clause in the loan agreement between Chelsea and Dortmund that would allow the parent club to cut Anselmino's stay in Germany short if he does not reach an agreed number of minutes, and he has not.
That said, Dortmund who reportedly agreed to pay over €2m (£1.7m) for a season-long loan for the defender, expect him to see out the season with them.
"Everything has been sorted out with Chelsea so far," Dortmund head coach Niko Kovac said three weeks ago when speaking about Anselmino.
"He is our player and I expect him to remain so until the end of the season."
Sky Germany adds that Dortmund do not have any buy option for the young Argentine, and Chelsea rate him very highly as part of their future plans.
Despite Levi Colwill's long-term injury absence, Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca still has plenty of centre-back options at his disposal.
Wesley Fofana and Trevoh Chalobah have been the primary centre-back pairing, with Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Josh Acheampong, and Jorrel Hato being the back-up options.
Chelsea currently have the second-most clean sheets in the Premier League (eight), only behind league leaders Arsenal (nine), so at least statistically, they are performing well defensively.
Gerry Crisandy is a freelance writer who has covered Chelsea for many years. His work has been published on The Chelsea Chronicle and Pride of London. He grew up idolising Michael Ballack and is a firm believer in expected goals.