Chelsea will not block Steve Holland exit if assistant coach wants full-time England role

Watching brief: Steve Holland looks on as Jamie Vardy trains with England
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Simon Johnson17 November 2016

Chelsea will not stand in Steve Holland’s way if he is approached by the Football Association to become the permanent assistant to Gareth Southgate.

The FA are expected to appoint Southgate as the new England boss before the end of the month after impressing during a four-game trial.

It is believed Southgate wants Holland, who is one of three assistant first-team coaches at Chelsea, to become a full-time member of his backroom staff. The duo have a close bond, having worked together with the England Under-21s since 2013.

Holland, who has been at Chelsea since 2009 and been assistant manager there in some capacity for the last five years, has shared the two roles with the club’s blessing.

Chelsea are willing for that to continue should an offer from the FA for Holland arrive but will not prevent him from going if he wants to accept a full-time position.

The Blues and manager Antonio Conte have great respect for the job Holland has done for club and country and see his involvement with the national team as something to be proud of.

Significantly, Chelsea’s goalkeeping coach Gianluca Spinelli also has the club’s backing to do the same job for the Italian national side.

Standard Sport understands Holland is not allowing the speculation to distract him now that he is back at Chelsea. His only focus is helping Conte and the players prepare for Chelsea’s match at Middlesbrough on Sunday.

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Meanwhile, Borussia Monchengladbach have revealed they will ask Chelsea to extend defender Andreas Christensen’s loan into a third season.

As Standard Sport revealed, Chelsea have blocked all attempts by the Bundesliga side to buy him outright because they see him as a key part of their squad in the future.

The Denmark international joined Borussia on a two-year loan in 2015 and has impressed to such an extent they want to keep him in anyway possible. Director of football Max Eberl admitted: “We will fight for Andreas.”

However, Chelsea were planning to involve him in the senior side from next season. It is expected that neither captain John Terry nor Branislav Ivanovic will be offered new contracts and will be allowed to leave on free transfers.

Chelsea might have a change of heart over Christensen staying at Borussia if the club succeed in buying more than one of Conte’s targets at centre-half in the next two windows.

Conte is keen to strengthen his defence starting in January and is looking at a number of players including Leonardo Bonucci, Kostas Manolas, Alessio Romagnoli, Antonio Rudiger and Michael Keane.

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