Since leaving Thibaut Courtois in 2018, the Chelsea a problem has developed 200 million euros. The ‘Blue’ team is the one that has spent the most on goalkeepers in the last six years and yet they have not been able to cover the departure of the Belgian. The signing of Mike Penders, who came for 21 million pounds, represents the ninth addition in goal in the last six years, that is, since Courtois left for Real Madrid.
The Belgian, Golden Glove of the Premier League in 2017, left for the Blanco club after the last poor season at Chelsea and they thought they would replace him more with Kepa Arrizabalaga, for which they paid 81 million to Athletic Club, a record price of an archer. In the 2018-2019 season, Chelsea started with Rob Green, the Argentine Willy Caballero and Kepa, as a big star.
However, the Basque, who in his first season already had a big row with Italian coach Maurizio Sarri, when he refused to be substituted in the last minutes of extra time of the League Cup final, was never liked by Frank Lampard, who came a year later.
As a result, Chelsea paid 24 million in the summer of 2020 for Edouard Mendy, from Stade Rennais, who soon took Kepa’s starting position and won the Champions League, scoring only two goals in the knockout phase . Marcus Betinelli also arrived as a third goalkeeper, free from Fulham.
The Cameroonian was a starter in the 2020-2021 season and in the 2021-2022 season, before a drop in form returned the starting position to Kepa, who played just eleven games in two seasons. In the summer of 2022, Chelsea paid nine million for Gabriel Slonina.
The 2022-2023 season will be Kepa’s last at Chelsea to date, as he is expected to formalize his loan at Bournemouth in the next few hours, and it won’t be enough for the ‘Blues’ to settle for him. The following summer they signed Robert Sánchez, for 23 million, and Djordje Petrovic, for 16 million, and the Spaniard played 16 games and the Serbian 23.
The clearest proof that they have not established themselves as a starter is that, before this campaign, Chelsea once again went to the market to strengthen the goal. Filip Jorgensen, for 23 million, and Penders, for 21 million, arrived at Stamford Bridge, and they were joined by Lucas Bergström and Eddie Beach, from the reserve team.
These figures make Chelsea the club in Europe that has spent the most on goalkeepers, with a total of 196.59 million, and even if the purchase of Kepa (81 million) is deducted, it will still be the same. The next team in goal spending is Arsenal, with 92.8 million on six goalkeepers. In total, Chelsea are also the club in Europe that have bought the most goalkeepers, with nine, one more than Eintracht Frankfurt.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
