Chelsea have plenty of contract negotiations to attend to in the off-season. Rather than dive into the high-value, high-pressure signings, they kicked off the business season by signing Eduardo to a one-year extension.
In January, Chelsea said that they would hold off on contract negotiations with Thibaut Courtois and Diego Costa until the summer. As the season went on the transfer rumours heated up in parallel with Chelsea’s – and their players’ – success. Chelsea increasingly looked like they would spend the summer offering extensions and renegotiating wages to ward off transfer swoops.
Eden Hazard, Victor Moses and Antonio Conte were all poised for a new round of contract talks to quell any thoughts of leaving. Hazard’s long-time rumoured links to Real Madrid, Moses’ new-found attraction from Barcelona and the recent silliness about Inter Milan tempting Conte all pointed towards plenty of work for Michael Emenalo’s staff.
But before getting into those complicated and perhaps confrontational talks, Chelsea loosened up their contract chops by signing Eduardo to a 1-year extension. In case you forgot, Eduardo is Chelsea’s third-string goalkeeper. He is the one player that had even fewer opportunities than Asmir Begovic.
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Eduardo is apparently happy to be part of Chelsea’s training squad and to don his kit to sit in reserve for EFL Cup and early-round FA Cup matches. While Asmir Begovic is more than ready to move on and become a starter, Eduardo is enjoying his twilight tour at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea needed a player of Begovic’s calibre as Courtois’s backup. A title contender needs to minimize the distance between their first- and second-string keeper. As much as Begovic would have wanted a mid-season loan or transfer, Antonio Conte could not entrust his title hopes to Eduardo.
Eduardo’s re-signing does not say anything about Chelsea’s goalkeeper situation. The Blues will still likely wait until they replace Begovic before selling him. Thibaut Courtois will likely remain at the club, despite interest from abroad and his previously well-documented dissatisfaction in west London
Football clubs usually take one of two routes with their third-string goal-keeper: very young or very old. Chelsea tend for the latter, as Mark Schwarzer was Eduardo’s immediate predecessor. Before Schwarzer was Henrique Hilario.
Chelsea have a very young goalkeeper in the pipeline who they could have promoted in place of Eduardo. Marcin Bulka is 17, but is considered a prodigy and potential world-class keeper. The Blues could have brought him into the first team squad. AC Milan’s 17-year old keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma may have turned them off from that prospect. Donnarumma rates as highly as Bulka, but committed a series of howlers while playing in Serie A this season.
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Eduardo provides some measure of experience and leadership to the club. The club clearly values his role at Cobham more than any prospect of him at Stamford Bridge. Now that his extension is secure, the club can turn to more pressing matters.