Chelsea FC Goalkeepers – Thibaut Courtois or Petr Cech?

With Chelsea having 3 big name goalkeepers on their books, the younger generation of keepers have not been talked about in much detail. Jamal Blackman is only 20, but has been around at Chelsea for 8 years. He has occasionally been on the bench for the first team, but has spent most of his time in recent years with the Under 21’s, where he has shown glimpses of his potential.

At the tail end of last season he saved two penalties in the semi-final of the U21 Cup against Man City and he has made a total of 91 appearances for Chelsea youth sides in his career.

His avenue into the first team squad has opened very significantly this season, as his Home Grown and Club Trained status make him extremely valuable when it comes to domestic and European squad regulations. A similar instance occurred in January 2012, when he was registered and Hilario unregistered in Chelsea’s Champions League ‘A’ Squad. This was to accommodate Ryan Bertrand in the squad, who did not meet criteria to be Club Trained.

This scenario could well repeat itself this season, in both the Premier League and Champions League. Although he is behind Mark Schwarzer in ability, no-one will argue that, he could be registered before him given the problems Chelsea are having with only being able to register 17 ‘foreign’ players.

In my eyes Blackman is the perfect solution to the squad problem. Sure, if we have a goalkeeping crisis and have to rely on Blackman we are in a bit of trouble, but any team that loses their first two keepers are going to be down to their bare bones. Before, it was Hilario who stepped in and was forced into some tough games including Barcelona in the Champions League. However, the situations are very rare. It is a small gamble, but one I think Mourinho will take.