The way that Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen and his representatives have acted in contract negotiations has influenced Thomas Tuchel’s decision to drop the Danish international, according to the Daily Telegraph‘s Matt Law.

Supporters have been asking why Antonio Rudiger has been kept in the team, despite his own reluctance to sign a contract extension, when Christensen has been given harsher treatment by the manager. Law says it comes down to broken promises:

In short, Rudiger and his reps will not have been seen to have messed the club around and failed to back up verbal agreements/promises/assurances with actions

— Matt Law (@Matt_Law_DT) December 1, 2021

While these things do happen in contract talks, it is very surprising for a manager like Tuchel to admit publicly that such discussions have affected his decision to play Christensen.

This could go one of two ways. Either Christensen knuckles down, trains, gets back into the team and signs a new deal, or he takes exception to his very public dressing down and opts to leave on a free transfer next summer. We will probably find out soon enough which avenue he takes.