Chelsea & Man Utd wonderkid transfer put on ice after injury heartbreak

Tom Weber

• Updated: 3 May 2024 17:39 BST
• 4 min read

Chelsea and Manchester United will have to put off their pursuit of Roony Bardghji until 2025.

The Copenhagen wonderkid has suffered a heartbreaking ACL injury that will keep him sidelined until next year. His club have announced that he sustained the injury in training and the youngster will now miss the the rest of the Superliga Championship Round, meaning that he won't be able to aid Copenhagen in their pursuit of hated rivals Brondby at the summit of the standings.

It also means that Bardghji most likely won't get the big summer move that had been anticipated for months. The 18-year-old has publically spoken about his desire to become the best player in the world and it had been expected that he would take the next step in his career in the upcoming window.

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The injury, therefore, also spells bad news for Copenhagen because Bardghji has no intention of signing a new contract. With his deal expiring in December 2025, it puts the Danish giants in a tricky position. If they don't manage to sell him next January, which is possible given the extent of the injury, they will run the risk of him signing a pre-contract with a club next summer and potentially miss out on an awful lot of money.

Bardghji in demand

The 18-year-old versatile attacker is one of Europe's most highly-rated prospects. Having starred for Copenhagen in late 2023, including in the Champions League, transfer speculation was rampant. So much so in fact that it was rumoured that Bardghji had been dropped from Copenhagen's squad as punishment for his desire to leave.

This eventually snowballed into a quite significant issue in the wake of which it was alleged that transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano had taken money from Bardghji's agent to spread the malicious gossip. Whatever the case, Bardghji is a sought-after commodity.

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Man Utd had been linked with a move for the youngster after he netted the winner for Copenhagen against Erik ten Hag and company in the Champions League. Chelsea, too, are long-term admirers of the Sweden international, but he has now become the second Blues transfer target to have suffered a serious knee injury.

Feyenoord left-back Quilindschy Hartman had been in 'extensive' transfer talks with Chelsea in recent weeks, but the Dutchman will also be out until 2025 after getting injured in an Eredivisie game. Everything Chelsea touch this season turns to gold gets injured.