Q:

future in reported speech when reporting verb is in the past

I have read the following sentence:

He said he will follow me to the end.

AFAIK in reported speech, the future tense is replaced with the conditional tense when the reporting verb is in the past. So the correct sentence should be "He said he would follow me to the end". I think that the sentence above is wrong, but oddly both Google Translate and Deep L translator chose the future tense too. What is the correct verb tense here?

A:

Backshifting may not be necessary sometimes.
From Cambridge dictionary:

We don’t need to change the tense in indirect speech if what a person said is still true or relevant or has not happened yet. This often happens when someone talks about the future, or when someone uses the present simple, present continuous or present perfect in their original words:
He told me his brother works for an Italian company. (It is still true that his brother works for an Italian company.)
She said she’s getting married next year. (For the speakers, the time at the moment of speaking is ‘this year’.)
He said he’s finished painting the door. (He probably said it just a short time ago.)
She promised she’ll help us. (The promise applies to the future.)

