Bringing in the right goalkeeper has been the ultimate litmus test for teams hoping to compete at the top of the Premier League for decades now and recent years have seen clubs forced to pay a premium to fill the No 1 spot. English clubs were previously reluctant to spend big bucks on goalkeepers, but that trend changed this past decade.
Manchester City stumped up £35million to sign Ederson back in 2017 with Liverpool and Chelsea retaliating with back-to-back record-breaking moves for Alisson and Kepa Arrizabalaga a year later. Aaron Ramsdale didn’t come cheap for Arsenal in 2021 while Manchester United paid the price for Andre Onana this summer.
The role of the goalkeeper has changed drastically in the time that their transfer fees have sky-rocketed. Where they were once simply ranked on their shot-stopping prowess, goalkeepers are now required to be good with their feet and be involved in the build-up play at the back.
Ederson and Alisson are arguably two of the best in world football at doing that while Onana is renowned for his passing ability and calmness on the ball. Ramsdale is also growing into his role, but Arsenal have brought in Spain’s David Raya to put pressure on the England international.
But despite Chelsea’s vast spending spree over the past 12 months, the Blues have seemingly opted against going down the same route as their rivals. Chelsea have allowed both Edouard Mendy and Kepa to leave the club this summer with Todd Boehly and co starting afresh between the sticks.
They were linked with a big-money move for AC Milan’s Mike Maignan as well as Onana, but ultimately baulked at the asking price. Instead, Chelsea struck a cut-price deal to sign Robert Sanchez and they’ve now agreed a £14million deal for New England Revolution goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic to come in as the Spaniard’s back-up.
Both goalkeepers have cost Chelsea in the region of £39m – less than half the full package they paid to sign Mykhaylo Mudryk in January. It’s a surprising gamble from Chelsea given the eye-catching transfer fees they’ve been happy to spend elsewhere in the squad.
Sanchez is no pushover and at 25 years of age can certainly prove to be worth his weight in gold. But he’s unproven at the elite level, as is Petrovic, and their rivals have opted for big fees over the past decade for a reason.
Alisson and Ederson have been key to the successes of Liverpool and City respectively since they arrived in the Premier League. It’s the kind of formula that is simple to copy, but difficult to execute as Chelsea learned with their mistake in signing Kepa.
The 28-year-old’s disappointing stint at Stamford Bridge may have played into the hierarchy’s thinking on not needing to spend big on a replacement goalkeeper. If it works out for Chelsea then their owners will be patting themselves on their backs for a rare bargain.
But they’ll soon be back to square one if it fails.
