Andreas Christensen told Thomas Tuchel he would not play in Saturday’s FA Cup Final on the morning of the clash, according to reports.
It is believed the Dane was not injured and was expected to start at Wembley – leaving the Chelsea head coach and his team-mates shocked when declaring himself not ready to be involved.
Christensen might have played his final match for the club, with the central defender set to join Barcelona as a free agent at the end of the campaign.
No official reason was given for his decision, but sources close to the player suggested he felt ill in the week, despite playing 90 minutes against Leeds. His unavailability caused disruption to Chelsea’s planning at a late stage, with Tuchel needing to turn to Trevoh Chalobah instead.
Christensen has already upset Chelsea officials after choosing against a new contract, which senior figures at the club believed had already been agreed even before Christmas.
He has since gone on to agree personal terms with Barcelona – and will join Antonio Rudiger in leaving Stamford Bridge for nothing.
But while the Blues are also disappointed to see Rudiger – who is heading to Real Madrid – walk away for free, there is a belief that the German has been more open about his intentions.
Tuchel has a major job on his hands to replace the two key defenders, with Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso also possible departures.
The Chelsea manager admits it makes mounting a genuine Premier League challenge in his second full campaign at the club an even more arduous task. He spoke after the defeat to Liverpool of the difficulty of keeping pace with the Klopp’s squad building in one summer.
“It’s maybe impossible, I have to say, maybe impossible,” he said. “They are improving their squad in every transfer window they have.
“It seems like we are losing key player. We are losing, of course, Toni, we’re losing Andreas. So this is tough and we already have gap close.”
