Former Chelsea star labelled ‘the lost centre back’ amid struggles at Barcelona after falling out of favour with Xavi at the Nou Camp

A former Chelsea star has been heavily slammed for his performances at Barcelona.

The defender joined the Catalan giants in the summer of 2022 after leaving Stamford Bridge upon the expiry of his contract.

He was a popular player with the Blues but his exit came amid the chaos that engulfed the club when previous owner Roman Abramovich was forced to sell up after being sanctioned by the UK government. 

As a result, he moved onto Barcelona and played a key role as they won LaLiga for the first time in four seasons, with the club keeping a record 26 clean sheets in the league.

The former Premier League player in question is Andreas Christensen, with Spanish outlet AS labelling him as ‘the lost centre back’, amid his recent struggles at the club.

Defender Andreas Christensen is the player in question after apparently falling out of favour

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It wasn’t always like this, with Christensen racking up 32 appearances in all competitions last season as the Danish defender quickly silenced those who questioned him upon his arrival. 

He established himself as Xavi’s go to central defender alongside Ronald Araujo, with Jules Kounde forced to play at right back.  

However, despite a strong start to this campaign, where he started the opening seven games, he has fallen out of favour.

It hasn’t helped Christensen that his last two appearances have come in Barcelona’s disappointing defeats to Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk.  

In his absence, Inigo Martinez – who joined the club from Athletic Bilbao in the summer – has taken his chance and asserted himself in the side with some strong performances which have earned him a call-up to Spain’s squad for this month’s internationals. 

Christensen’s last two games have come in poor defeats to Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk

He has been substituted off in six of his 12 starts this season and is fourth choice centre back

In fact, Christensen has also slipped down the centre back pecking order behind Araujo, Kounde and Martinez, with the Dane having also been substituted off in six of his 12 starts this season.

Reports have suggested that Christensen is struggling with an Achilles injury – which explains his supposed decline – but he has still featured regularly for Denmark throughout the past two international breaks and was named in their squad for this week’s fixtures.

But, AS also reports that despite his lack of action, Xavi retains full faith in Christensen and the Dane is expected to feature heavily over the next few months as Barcelona face a congested fixture schedule across competitions.