Does Chelsea really need a new goalkeeper to challenge?
‘Well what about Arrizabalaga – surely he should be sold?’. No, he shouldn’t. This season the Spanish international has been excellent. At 77.8% he boasts a higher save rate than anyone else in the league. He ranks higher than the current league leader’s goalkeeper, Aaron Ramsdale, who boasts a 73.3% save rate. Not only that, the Spaniard has recorded an incredible PSxG+/- score of +5.3. The only goalkeeper better in that is Alisson Becker with a whopping +10.2. Arrizabalaga has prevented more than five goals than he was expected to. Ederson, meanwhile, has been really poor this season, saving 59% of his shots and recording a PSxG+/- score of -4.1. Despite Ederson’s poor form, he has allowed 0.9 goals per game and is still well in contention to win the league.
From 2020/21 until this moment Chelsea’s stoppers have been the most consistent players for the team, if Chelsea is not challenging for the league, it’s most definitely not because of the goalkeepers. The better question is, can the Blues win the league with [insert consistently starting outfielder/forward here]? The goalkeepers are more than capable of helping the Blues to a title-winning campaign.
Pete O’Rourke of the Football Insider reports that CFC is considering promoting American ‘keeper Gabriel Slonina to the senior team if they cannot agree contract terms with Mendy. No one knows if Slonina is ready to make the step up, but Mendy and Slonina cannot be compared in terms of competence, experience or value to the team. Slonina is tabled for a loan as it is, and that is the best course for the American. His development will stagnate if he sits behind Arrizabalaga for a whole season anyway.
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Ederson is currently earning £100k/week according to Capology, Alisson is earning £150k/week, Mendy is earning £55k/week, when you consider how well Mendy has performed relative to the two those two and every other keeper in the league, £100k/w is not too much for Mendy to ask for, though no one knows what he’s asking for, especially when you consider that his colleague, Arrizabalaga is earning £150k/week as well. Todd Boehly is better off extending Mendy to at least 100k/week, because the Blues would be in a much worse position if they let Mendy go and make do with an Arrizabalaga-Slonina goalkeeping pair.