Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca reportedly “doesn’t want” five of his current squad, as he has “no faith” in any of them, and has therefore attempted a big signing.
The Blues tend to have a high turnover of players, and that may be no different this summer. The signings of Liam Delap, Dario Essugo, Estevao Willian, Mamadou Sarr and Kendry Paez have all already been completed.
Money going out means it will have to be brought back in for Chelsea to stay in line with financial regulations.
And there could be some big moves in the goalkeeper position, as transfer insider Graeme Bailey has told the Chelsea Chronicle that Maresca wants none of his current corps.
“This talk of Chelsea having full faith in their five goalkeepers – because we can throw Kepa [Arrizabalaga] into this as well. There really is no faith from Enzo Maresca in this at all. Of those five, Enzo Maresca doesn’t want any of them. Robert Sanchez has been told he can leave,” he said.
“Djordje Petrovic has been told he can leave and there’s interest from Nice. There’s quite a bit of interest in France in him. No shock given the season he just had.”
Sanchez was the main starter at Chelsea last season, while Petrovic was loaned out to Strasbourg, where he had the second-best save percentage of any Ligue 1 keeper, so might have expected a spot back at Stamford Bridge.
There’s likely to be good money raised from the pair. However, attempts from Maresca to sign a new No.1 ahead of the Club World Cup have failed, so it’s likely one of the aforementioned players, or Filip Jorgensen, starts in net in the tournament.
Indeed, Chelsea have been looking to sign AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan for weeks, but were not willing to pay the Serie A side’s asking price, lodging a €20million (£16.9m) bid, but going no further.
Fabrizio Romano stated they did not want to pay Club World Cup tax, so have left the pursuit there for now. It’s not clear if they’ll look to pick it up again after.
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In any case, there are conflicting reports on what will happen with Chelsea’s current keeper group, as Ben Jacobs has said: “Worth noting Chelsea still retain faith in Robert Sanchez, who finished the season strongly, Filip Jorgensen, Djordje Petrovic and Mike Penders.”
“Chelsea spent around £45m on Jorgensen and Penders and back both to become elite keepers.
“Maignan was a market opportunity, explored by the sporting directors. Enzo Maresca not driving the move, and Chelsea sticking to their valuation.”
