On-loan Chelsea star ‘tells Premier League giants he wants to LEAVE in the summer’ – despite the £35m-rated defender signing a new deal until 2026
- A Chelsea star has reportedly told the club he wants to leave this summer
- The player joined Dortmund after struggling for minutes under Pochettino
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Chelsea star Ian Maatsen has reportedly told the Premier League giants he wants to join Borussia Dortmund on a permanent basis during the summer transfer window.
Maatsen played in the Championship with Burnley a year ago before returning to Chelsea and struggling for minutes under Mauricio Pochettino. As a result, he decided that he would be loaned to Germany.
Maatsen – who signed a new contract at Stamford Bridge before moving to BVB – has been on fire for the Bundesliga giants this season, scoring his first ever Champions League goal earlier this week.
After Dortmund’s 4-2 win over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final, Maatsen said he would like to stay in Germany. He claimed he feels ‘very comfortable’ with his loan club.
‘I have always believed [I could] playing for Chelsea, but for some reason things unfortunately didn’t go as they should have,” Maatsen said CBS Sports after Tuesday night’s game.
Chelsea star Ian Maatsen has reportedly told the Premier League giants he wants to join Borussia Dortmund on a permanent basis during the summer transfer window
Maatsen has been on fire for the Bundesliga giants this season, scoring his first ever Champions League goal earlier this week (pictured above)
The 22-year-old Dutchman continued: ‘Now I am here [at Dortmund] I am very grateful for the opportunity. I can say that I am very proud of myself.
“I kept believing in myself and came here to experience playing my game at the highest level, playing my game. I think I showed a very good performance today. I’m very happy.’
Maatsen was seen as a rising star by Chelsea scouts when he played for PSV Eindhoven and impressed in the Netherlands Under-21 team before making the move to England six years ago.
Due to his versatility, the 6ft 1in defender played as a left back, wing-back, centre-half and in central midfield in Chelsea’s Cobham academy during his debut season, before later specializing as a full-back.
Former manager Frank Lampard handed Maatsen his first-team debut in 2019 after seeing him and others exceed expectations in the UEFA Youth League final that same year.
However, senior opportunities were difficult to come by and an initial move to Charlton followed. Maatsen quickly became a fan favorite as he made 35 appearances in all competitions and scored his first professional goal against Doncaster.
Chelsea felt a further move in the EFL era was necessary to get the best out of the adaptable star and a move was agreed with Coventry, where he once again became a regular with 41 appearances and was later named the Championship’s young player of the year.
Maatsen played in the Championship with Burnley a year ago before returning to Chelsea and struggling for minutes under Mauricio Pochettino
He then remained in the second tier with Burnley, scoring four goals as the Clarets ran to the title and Maatsen was named in the division’s team of the season.
Which brings us to the present where, after being deemed surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge despite the club’s ongoing crisis in form and league points, Maatsen was shipped off to Germany, where Maatsen is once again starring in another move.
Having made 15 appearances for Chelsea this season, albeit with less than 400 minutes in total, Maatsen arrived in Dortmund with a point to prove after seeing limited opportunities under Pochettino.
He certainly did that, making a name for himself in Germany and firing a shot past an Oblak to give Borussia Dortmund a one-foot lead in the last four of the Champions League.