No place in the team photo: former Borussia Dortmund professional Aaron Anselmino suffers a steep decline

Aaron Anselmino has barely said a word in public in recent weeks and months. To make sense of the centre-back's situation, after Chelsea loaned him to Borussia Dortmund last season, recalled him in winter and then immediately sent him out again to partner club Racing Strasbourg, you have to read between the lines.

He was known to be extremely reluctant to cut short his stay at Dortmund. The Westphalians documented it clearly enough with a video that showed Anselmino in tears as he said goodbye to his team-mates. His spell in France then turned into a disaster that Anselmino would probably rather erase from his memory.

So the 241-day gap between posts on his Instagram profile comes as no surprise, nor does the complete absence of any photos from his time in Strasbourg. Because that was where the issue that has run through Anselmino's time in Europe like a red thread since he joined Chelsea permanently in January 2025 for a €16.5 million fee hit its peak: he was injured.

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How often did Aaron Anselmino play for Racing Strasbourg?

Anselmino played 15 minutes for Racing across three matches. In two of them, he came on in the 90th and eighth minute of stoppage time. Altogether, he missed no fewer than 20 games for the Alsatians with a dead leg and two thigh injuries. Each time, Anselmino broke down again shortly after returning to the pitch.

That had already happened at Dortmund. Back then, Anselmino produced a very decent debut before disappearing for weeks. His hamstring has consistently caused him enormous trouble. The 21-year-old has now racked up seven injury absences since leaving Argentina, with lay-offs ranging from two and a half weeks to around three months.

For a young talent trying to develop on an unfamiliar continent, while having to adapt within a few months to three new locations, cultures and internal club processes, that is pure poison. The numbers reflect it: since January 2025, Anselmino has made 14 appearances at professional level for a total of 603 minutes. Ninety-seven per cent of them came at Dortmund.

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Aaron Anselmino currently injured yet again at Chelsea

What is going on with Anselmino right now? Take a guess: he is injured and out of the picture. Or out of the picture because he was injured? Nobody knows for certain, as per paragraph one of this article.

With massive competition in London, where new coach Xabi Alonso has once again started another rebuild and backed it with transfer spending of just over €400 million on ten players, Anselmino was unsurprisingly seen as a candidate to leave. In whatever form that might take.

Yet his extremely limited availability and reliability meant interested parties were hardly queuing up. The clubs that had at least considered signing him felt vindicated on 9 August.

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Aaron Anselmino has not yet played a single second for Chelsea

After Alonso had given him at least 63 minutes across three matches on the Blues' Asia tour, against Tottenham, Juventus and Milan, each time as a substitute for Jorrel Hato, Anselmino made the starting line-up that day. The opponents in the penultimate pre-season match were Malaysian club Johor Darul Ta'zim FC.

The Argentinian lasted 29 minutes. Then his thigh muscles tightened up. Anselmino walked off in tears.

Since then, he has stayed there, away from the pitch. On 27 August, Anselmino at least made the squad for the EFL Cup match against Luton Town, but watched the full 90 minutes from the bench. In every other match, he has been in the stands.

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Aaron Anselmino missing from Chelsea team photo

Then, on 12 September, Alonso publicly mentioned Anselmino for once, naming him as one of three players unavailable for the league clash against Hull City. That strongly suggests Anselmino suffered another injury after his place on the bench against Luton. Four days later, the official team photo was taken. Anselmino is not in it.

His immediate future looks painfully familiar: get fit, build up training sessions, ideally pick up a few brief appearances and finally stay stable for once. Only then will Anselmino have any chance at all of securing a loan move in the winter.

That looks the most likely outcome after months that must have left him deeply frustrated and annoyed. He may also look at Chelsea's start to the season with some interest: after conceding 15 goals in seven competitive matches, four wins, one draw and two defeats, Alonso is presiding over the Premier League's worst defence, with his side shipping more than twice per game on average.

Aaron Anselmino: Performance data in professional football

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