Remember all the PR from weeks ago saying Robert Sanchez and Djordje Petrovic were the goalkeepers for next season and Chelsea didn’t want to sign a new stopper? Remember them claiming Maresca (through PR) has chosen Sanchez as his number one? Again, do they think we are stupid?
Maresca studied data of every single player, imagine thinking that he chose Sanchez as his number one stopper as a result of that? Maresca wants a stopper who is confident with his feet, not someone who is confident of brain farting with his feet. Why would he chose Sanchez? Again, it’s all face saving.
It is correct that he was happy to see him and Petrovic in training, but Chelsea have always been searching for a new goalkeeper these last couple of months.
Filip Jorgensen is now apparently the goalkeeper we are pushing for, or at least one of four.
Our info on this is that we have spoke to Jorgensen through agents in recent days but there have been no offers or anything agreed at this point. Sources say there are ‘quite a few’ goalkeepers we are exploring. So once again, I’ll refrain from giving my full reactions to this until it becomes a real potential move.
But if we are signing a new goalkeeper then quite simply it has to be an established option that improves what we already have, right? Is Jorgensen that guy? I would be lying if I said I’ve watched him play a lot, but based off everything I’ve heard from people who have watched him a lot, then I’d have concerns over whether he is that guy.
And here are some facts to back that up. Jorgensen is 22, never been capped at senior international level, and has played just 38 senior games in a top European league. Is that really the stats behind a new number one goalkeeper who should be coming in this summer? And we absolutely MUST be looking for a new number one by the way, not someone to offer competition to Sanchez. I’m not saying Jorgensen wont end up being good and of course, I’d give him every chance to be. But there’s now talk of selling/loaning Djordje Petrovic after he had a fairly decent season last season developing – but he’s not there yet. This is the point, we sign players who are developing and not there yet. If we move Petrovic on and replace him with another unproven option, we will just be in this same cycle again next summer, and that doesn’t just go for the goalkeeper department. We’ve signed ‘development’ raw players throughout the whole squad.
Stop trying to save face on some of these signings you made mistakes on and UPGRADE them!!
That brings me to the rest of our business so far. I am waiting to see what happens the rest of this window, yes, but I am even now really concerned about all of that after everything I’ve been hearing this last week or so. I don’t see any ‘marquee’ names arriving now.
No, we don’t always need marquee names and I’m absolutely all for buying smart – but you need balance. Maybe some of these new players we have signed turn out to be very smart gems, and I’m not necessarily against any of them really. We have added some versatile and decent players, fine. That’s great. But are we improving the squad we already have?
We are spending £19m on players like Omari Kellyman who may or may not prove to be a good signing eventually. But we are spending millions on players who we fully know are never even going to play for Chelsea, lets face it. Andrey Santos is going on loan again this season, will he even ever play for Chelsea? I’m not sure. I’m sure he will be spun for profit though so all gravy, right? These things have a knock on effect though and having all these players around is negative. Maresca is going to have a MASSIVE squad this season with loan restrictions and our struggles to sell players. That’s never ideal.
This is supposed to be the last window of our four window plan to rebuild the squad, and not one fan is truly excited and content with the business we have done so far this window. Everyone has concerns. What if we fail again this season after four transfer windows? Will heads roll? Why have they invested so much faith in those leading all our transfer business and negotiations? If we fail this season, then I hope they know they can expect the full wrath of the fan base on their backs, because for me, the excuses then run out.
I’m sorry to be negative, but these thoughts had to come out. You can be content with a signing like Tosin Adarabioyo on a free transfer but also be concerned about the overall business. You can be cautiously optimistic about the season ahead yet also have more major concerns about overall operations. There should never be one way or the other.
I want to see our business at the end of the window before I predict what will happen this season. But the above issues I have spoken about really have me feeling concerned and once again, just very miffed about everything surrounding my club right now. I’m open minded, I’m absolutely NOT writing us off already this season, I think we have some great players in our squad. But we have yet to improve on what we already have, and if we fail to address the glaringly obvious issues in this squad (a physical 9 – true striker profile, a one v one winger, an upgraded goalkeeper, and maybe even a left back), then I will be very concerned about the season ahead.