Aarón Anselmino made a flying start to life at Borussia Dortmund, earning a standing ovation on his debut, just days after joining on loan from Chelsea at the end of the summer transfer window, and he’s continued to impress ever since with his “crusader spirit”, as his head coach, Niko Kovać put it recently.
Unfortunately for the young center back (and his team, who have yet to lose any in any of his games), injuries have limited him to just nine appearances (seven starts) across all competitions. He’s currently dealing with a hamstring problem while he had missed nearly two months already earlier in the season.
Though BVB are not looking to send him back (if anything, they want to keep him beyond just this season), those lack of minutes mean that Chelsea’s conditional recall clause could be exercised in the January transfer window. And according to some rumors, we are indeed considering that possibility — not so much because of the injury, but rather to help bolster our own defensive performances.
However, Kovać seems pretty certain that he’ll be able to count on Anselmino the rest of the way still, and more recent reports seems to agree.
“Everything is settled with Chelsea. He is our player and I expect him to remain so until the end of the season.”
-Niko Kovać; source: Sky Deutschland
From Chelsea’s perspective, a January recall would also make less sense than a summer re-integration. While the shunned Axel Disasi is expected to leave next month, it seems unlikely that there would be any major changes to the squad. We probably could use an improvement, but we can better evaluate the situation after the season.
The futures of Tosin Adarabioyo and Benoît Badiashile are certainly far from assured and Wesley Fofana’s fitness is never a sure thing either. Levi Colwill will be back, but also coming off of a major injury. Who knows how that might go.
So there could be plenty of opportunity for someone like Anselmino to come (back) in a stake his claim for next season.