Chelsea are going crazy for goalkeepers. Up to now, The Blues have had up to… 8 goalkeepers, spending a total of 150 million euros on the transfer market. So, why are the Stamford Bridge team buying goalkeepers like buying vegetables and fish at the market?

Jorgensen has just officially joined Chelsea

After spending 25 million euros to acquire Filip Jorgensen, Chelsea continued to buy young Belgian goalkeeper Mike Penders from Genk for 20 million euros. Together with 6 other goalkeepers under contract, The Blues now have up to… 8 goalkeepers in the squad, costing a total of 150 million euros.

All are mediocre or only at potential level, even the number one goalkeeper Robert Sanchez is not completely trustworthy. Why does Chelsea buy goalkeepers like buying vegetables? Behind the crazy spending on this goalkeeper position is a simple reason such as then loaning them out to gain experience or more sinister is to wipe out all potential goalkeepers in Europe…

Late on the evening of July 31, Chelsea officially made the least surprising transfer: snatching Marseille goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen. The Blues spent 25 million euros to sign the Danish goalkeeper on a 6-year contract. The former Villarreal goalkeeper joins the London club’s “Mongolian-like” army of goalkeepers.

Sanchez has competition for position

With Robert Sanchez bought for €23m a year ago, Djordje Petrovic (€17m) last summer, Gabriel Slonina (€10m) two years ago, Lucas Bergstrom (Chelsea’s youth academy), Marcus Bettinelli back at Stamford Bridge after two years on loan and Kepa Arrizabalaga back from a season on loan at Real Madrid, Todd Boehly’s Chelsea have seven goalkeepers in their squad! But seven is not enough.

A few hours ago, Chelsea caused a lot of controversy when they completed the procedure to buy Mike Penders for 20 million euros from Genk. This 19-year-old goalkeeper only played his first professional match last weekend when Genk visited Standard Liege in the first round of the 2024/25 Belgian National Championship.

According to Belgian media, the transfer has been completed and Chelsea has therefore “spent money” to help Genk make the most expensive goalkeeper sale in the Belgian top flight ever. Penders surpassed Verbruggen, Vandevoordt and Thibaut Courtois – who left Genk for Stamford Bridge in 2011 for 9 million euros. It is known that after completing the purchase of Penders for 20 million euros with a long-term contract, this goalkeeper will continue to stay at Genk on a 1-season loan to gain experience and progress.

Penders is Chelsea’s eighth goalkeeper so far.

If you look at Chelsea’s recent purchases , it’s clear that this new transfer is part of a rather surprising recruitment policy of The Blues. Preferring to recruit young players with long-term contracts (usually 6-8 years), then loaning them out, Chelsea also wants to monopolize all the most notable talents. But having 8 goalkeepers in the squad at the same time, and spending up to 70 million euros on this position, not counting the 80 million for Kepa in 2018, still causes problems that give coach Enzo Maresca a headache.

Firstly, despite the huge spending (150 million euros), Chelsea still do not have a truly world-class goalkeeper in goal ahead of the new season. Kepa has not been at his peak for the past 4 seasons, Sanchez is only average, and the remaining names are still potential.

Second, Chelsea’s increasingly bloated squad has drawn criticism for their approach. Some clubs have accused the West London club of “monopolizing” the transfer market, buying massively to reduce their competitiveness. And finally, Maresca will fall into the same miserable situation as recent Chelsea managers, especially Maurico Pochettino, who has to clean up the squad (currently up to 46 players) before the new season begins.