Transfer mystery continues: Chelsea’s “final decision” on young defender still hasn’t been made | OneFootball

One of the more unexpected pieces of news in this Chelsea transfer window has been the recall of young defender Aaron Anselmino from his loan at Borussia Dortmund.

The Argentine was seen weeping as he said his goodbyes to his erstwhile yesterday after the surprise move.

German transfer insider Florian Plettenberg, in writing about the Blues’ (so far unsuccessful) attempts to sign Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes, claims that the French defender’s potential signing “will have an impact on the final decision regarding Anselmino, who has returned [to Chelsea] for now.

Chelsea’s January intentions remain a mystery even after recall

Aaron Anselmino looks sad after his recall from Dortmund.

That really leaves us with more questions than answers. The only reason we could see for recalling Anselmino, who was clearly very happy at Dortmund, was highly rated there and was doing well when injury allowed him on the pitch, was if the deal for Jacquet was totally dead and the sporting directors felt that there was the need for more cover at the back.

The idea that Anselmino has only “returned for now” and that a Jacquet arrival could yet see him farmed out somewhere else is just bizarre to us. But before we get critical, we’ll wait and see what happens in both situations.

In other news…

It seemed like Chelsea’s midfield depth issues were over when they signed Dario Essugo in the summer – but he’s spent even more time on the side-lines than Romeo Lavia, the man he was supposed to be helping cover for. It’s not clear what the club will do in the summer now.

Chelsea welcomed both Lavia and Cole Palmer back to training this week, and while we’re not sure when they will be ready to play, it’s a good sign they’re on the right path.