Aaron Anselmino is yet to make his Chelsea first-team debut (Image: Getty)
Chelsea youngster Aaron Anselmino is reportedly expecting to leave on loan at the end of the season. The teenage defender has not played a single minute for the first team since signing from Boca Juniors, and club coaches have recommended that he bulks up to cope with the physical demands of English football.
The Blues completed a £15.6million move for Anselmino last summer, handing him a seven-year contract and sending him back on loan to Argentina. Eyebrows were raised when Chelsea recalled the 19-year-old in January, only to have given him no first-team games and just one appearance for the Under-21s.
Anselmino arrived with a hamstring injury and has been grappling with a minor muscle issue. But according to BBC Sport, Chelsea always planned to be cautious about phasing him into the side, given his relative lack of physicality for a centre-back.
The Argentine has been on a mission to transform his body by 'putting on a few extra kilograms of muscle'. Once he has done so, the player and his entourage reportedly expect him to be sent on loan to partner club Strasbourg for the 2025/26 season.
Chelsea chiefs have not yet made a final decision on where Anselmino will spend next term, and he could be given a chance to impress at the revamped Club World Cup in June and July.
Aaron Anselmino was recalled from Boca Juniors in January (Image: Getty)
Manager Enzo Maresca, who has only named Anselmino on the bench twice, outlined the importance of helping him bed in shortly after his recall from Boca Juniors.
"He’s another talent, another good player," said the Italian in January. "Now the most important thing is that he arrives here, adapts himself, finds a house, and settles in the right way. Then we need to give him time because when you come from the other part of the world, you need to adapt. You need to see a new world, a new culture.
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"For sure we are going to try to help him to adapt as soon as possible. At the moment, the plan is to keep him here to allow him to work with us, and then to take a decision.
"If he’s here it’s because we think he is a good player, and he can help us, but for sure he is very young, and he is coming from Argentina, with a completely different culture, different football, different level, so he needs time to adapt."
