‘I would have been very, very happy.’That is the declaration by Andreas Christensen when asked now what his reaction would have been a decade ago if told then what he would go on to achieve by this stage in his career.He is speaking to us on the 10th anniversary of his decision to sign for Chelsea. Already a Denmark Under-17 international at the time, he chose to leave Brondby in his homeland for a Premier League academy. Looking at photos from that time, Christensen thinks he has aged a lot since. Others may disagree. He was certainly tall for his age in 2012, and was highly rated too.‘I was training at Chelsea, I was training at Aston Villa at the same time, and some other clubs wanted me to go and train with them,’ he recalls, ‘so I kept comparing the other clubs to Chelsea and at some point, I think I realised that the reason I was comparing other clubs to Chelsea might be that it is where I want to be most.

‘Growing up, the Premier League was always one of the leagues I watched the most. In Denmark people support the teams and it was quite clear it was one of my dreams to come to the Premier League.‘That is when I realised it was a choice I had to make and after taking the decision, I called Michael Emenalo [then Chelsea’s technical director] quite quickly afterwards to say I would really like to become part of the programme and see where it goes.’

Winning when young

Where it went initially was plenty of success in the Chelsea Academy with the FA Youth Cup and the Under-21 League won in his second season at the club, following appearances in the final of the Youth Cup and European competition the Next Gen Series in his first. Its successor, the UEFA Youth League, was captured in 2015 with his coach at that time, Adi Viveash, describing Christensen as the best young defender in Europe.

‘We had a very strong age group,’ Christensen says as he looks back. ‘If you look at the team, many of them are either playing in the Premier League, the Championship or elsewhere in the world now.

‘I feel now like it was quite a short time, as me, Ruben [Loftus-Cheek] and Nathan [Ake] were training a lot with the first team quite early on, while playing Academy games, and I feel like we won everything we could which is why I came to Chelsea in the first place.’In some ways, the final stages of the Next Gen tournament and the UEFA Youth League were good preparation for what Christensen faces this week at the FIFA Club World Cup, with a short stay in one location, a semi-final stage and the aim of making a final a few days later, more truncated than tournaments such as his notable Euro 2020 experience last summer.‘This is where you become closer to the group and you get to settle in to an environment where you have to perform, and I like that,’ he says. ‘Back then, because we felt like we had such a strong group, we felt we had a chance to win every tournament.’

Also back then, the developing defender would at times play at right-back, a position in which he made his first team debut in a cup game at Shrewsbury in 2014 under Jose Mourinho, but one he largely feels is behind him, unlike the role in midfield where Denmark sometimes ask him to deploy his ball-playing skills.

Leaps and bounds on loan

In short, Chelsea had chosen his loan club well. He was even named Borussia Monchengladbach’s Player of the Year.On his return to Stamford Bridge, he admits Gary Cahill’s misfortune in being sent off during the first game of the 2017/18 season presented him with a chance, and he played his most matches in a Chelsea campaign in what was Antonio Conte’s second season in charge.Under Maurizio Sarri he was considered more a player for our success in the Europa League than one to be used in the Premier League, but involvement increased domestically under Frank Lampard and Thomas Tuchel.‘It's been a bit in and out of teams, struggling to have a full season at the really top level, but I feel it has gone a lot better in recent years,’ Christensen reflects.‘I have never given it up and everything I learnt in the Academy I have tried to bring to it.’

Chasing the Club World Cup

‘To have done it so early, I am over the moon to have experienced that and am hungry to do it again.‘With the Club World Cup, I know how prestigious it is. Growing up in Denmark, it's not the one they speak about the most but I've realised since coming here it's a big deal, and it would be good to have that gold badge in the middle of the shirt.’