Chelsea’s ongoing struggles in goal have reached a boiling point, with manager Enzo Maresca confirming that his first-choice goalkeeper – thought to be Robert Sanchez – has been dropped indefinitely.
The club’s extravagant spending in recent years has yielded more headaches than solutions, and the goalkeeping position has been a glaring issue.
Since Todd Boehly’s BlueCo group took over in 2022, Chelsea have shelled out more than €1.2 billion on transfers, including over €80m on goalkeepers alone. Yet, they still lack a standout presence between the sticks. Now, Maresca has decided to shake things up, axing Sanchez in favour of Filip Jorgensen, who has, until this point, been kept as the second-choice shot-stopper.
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Sanchez arrived at Stamford Bridge for €23m in 2023 and initially cemented himself as the club’s number one. However, after a series of high-profile mistakes, he lost his starting spot to Djordje Petrovic last season. The same cycle has repeated this year, with Sanchez now making way for Jorgensen.
Jorgensen, who joined from Villarreal last summer for €20m, has primarily featured in cup competitions, as part of the club’s ‘B Team,’ but was given his chance in Chelsea’s 2-1 win over West Ham. Maresca has now made it clear that the 22-year-old will continue as Chelsea’s number one for the foreseeable future.
Enzo Maresca admits that Robert Sanchez will have to fight for his place
Speaking about his decision, Maresca explained: “I said that Filip starting against West Ham was also to give Robert some time to recover mentally and physically. But the idea is not to switch goalkeepers game by game.”
The Italian manager elaborated further, saying, “I spoke with Robert a few days before West Ham when I made the decision to play Filip. Since then, I haven’t spoken with him again, and the same goes for Filip. They both know the situation. This is the decision for now, and we’ll see what happens moving forward.”
