Chelsea have agreed the £25 million sale of one of their five first-team goalkeepers to fellow Premier League side Bournemouth.
The club currently have five first-team goalkeepers with Robert Sanchez earmarked as the primary number one, having played 32 times for Chelsea in the Premier League this season, keeping 10 clean sheets and making 95 saves.
Djordje Petrovic is the keeper who, according to David Ornstein, has agreed to the £25 million transfer to Bournemouth. Bournemouth finished ninth last season with Kepa on loan from Chelsea, and he kept eight Premier League clean sheets.
Chelsea goalkeeper situation
Chelsea have signed at least one goalkeeper per year since their transfer ban in 2019/20. The season before that, they signed Kepa for a record transfer for a goalkeeper. Petrovic spent last season on loan at Chelsea’s sister club Strasbourg, where he kept 10 clean sheets and only conceded 38 goals in 31 games.
Youngsters Gabriel Slonina and Mike Penders will likely make a loan move this season while Jogensen will deputise for Sanchez if they make no further goalkeeper signings. Prior to the Club World Cup, Chelsea had been linked to a move for Mike Maignan.
Petrovic was one of the keepers not included in the Club World Cup squad.
Bournemouth’s ambitions for this season
Bournemouth only conceded 46 goals last season, and only the top four conceded fewer. They have, however, been cleared out of many of the defensive assets that made them so strong. Dean Huijsen signed for Real Madrid for his release clause fee of £50 million, and Milos Kerkez has signed for Liverpool. There are also rumours that Ilya Zabarnyi will move to PSG for a fee in the £60 million region after the Club World Cup.
Bournemouth conceded 67 goals the previous season as it took Iraola’s system to take. It will take some more of the Spaniard’s impressive work to get the team in shape to compete in the same way next season.