CHELSEA GOALKEEPER HEADS TO FRANCE

Chelsea goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic is set to join French side Strasbourg for the rest of the season.

According to Fabrizio Romano, he says Petrovic has agreed new terms with Chelsea and will spend the season at Liam Roseniors side.

Why Strasbourg?

They are part of the multiclub model that Todd Boehly owns. His business, BlueCo., made Strasbourg the first member of the multiclub model when he purchased 99.7% of the club. 

This means a lot of Chelsea’s squad who they want to develop will go on loan to the French side; it’s a chance to play in a competitive decision under a coach who’s fantastic at developing players and making your mark. 

Andrey Santos joined in January and has stayed for this season, and he’s already started the season with a goal after impressing in the last couple of months at the club.

Diego Moreira, the 20-year-old, actually joined Strasbourg from Chelsea on a permanent deal, so it shows if they feel like maybe there’s not a future for you at Chelsea, but they feel like you can benefit Strasbourg, that’s an opportunity for you too. 

So I think Petrovic has gone to Strasbourg to play and develop, but it will also benefit the club massively because the 24-year-old Serbian made 23 appearances in the Premier League last season, and for his first season, I thought he did relatively well. 

Why hasn’t he stayed?

You would think a goalkeeper who played over half of the league games in the Premier League last season may stay around the squad, even if it’s a second choice. 

But Chelsea signed 22-year-old Danish goalkeeper Filip Jőrgensen from Villareal this summer, who looks to be the goalkeeper they are using for Europe competitions while Robert Sánchez plays in the Premier League.

So with the two goalkeepers above him, it wouldn’t have made sense for his development to stay as third choice goalkeeper and potentially play zero minutes all season, so he gets to play at a high level and play a lot of minutes; it’s a good loan for him.

It will be interesting to see if he has a good loan spell and what that then means for him. With two goalkeepers currently above him in the pecking order at Chelsea, will he get a chance to make that starting spot his again? 

2024-08-29T09:30:55Z dg43tfdfdgfd