There were a number of takeaways to be made about Chelsea’s performance against Brentford last week, but the one that stands out is that Edouard Mendy is the best Chelsea signing in recent memory. The Senegalese goalkeeper has consistently been one of the best players in the team since his signing in September 2020 but it was his heroics against Brentford that truly drove home his abilities. It’s tough to think of the last Chelsea signing to have this much of an impact at the club. You may even have to go back to N’Golo Kante to find someone as integral to the team.
Edouard Mendy is Best Chelsea Signing in Years
The Stats
In the Premier League alone Edouard Mendy has kept 20 clean sheets in 38 games so far, helping Chelsea to 22 wins in that time. He has been active in those 38 games too as he is credited with making 82 saves. Of course, statistics alone don’t tell the full story, so we compared Mendy’s 2020/2021 season to some of his peers like Ederson of Manchester City, David de Gea of Manchester United, and Alisson of Liverpool using FbRef.
When compared to his peers, Mendy’s performance levels become clear. He had the best percentage of saves and clean sheets of everyone we studied, in both of those categories he just edged out Ederson but outclassed De Gea and Alisson. Every goalkeeper included in our study had over 40 games to their name in season so the sample size for all four was somewhat consistent.
Another stat battle which Mendy won was Goals Against per 90 minutes as his 0.67 goals allowed per 90 beat Ederson’s 0.69. Looking at the current season to date has Mendy once again ahead of his peers with a ridiculous save% of 90.9% and only 5 goals allowed in his ten games so far
The Accolades
If the statistics aren’t enough to convince you then maybe Mendy’s list of accolades will. He won the UEFA Champions League Goalkeeper of the Season award for Chelsea’s title-winning campaign. This marked the first time a Chelsea goalkeeper has won the award since club legend Petr Cech in 2012. In said campaign, Mendy equalled the record for most clean sheets in a Champions League season with nine. He was also the winner of the Best African International award for the 2020/2021 season in the Ghana Football Awards
Chelsea have been trying to replace Petr Cech ever since his retirement. Thibaut Courtois and Kepa Arrizabalaga both tried and failed to become the club’s long-term solution. Edouard Mendy may finally be the answer to Chelsea’s long-standing goalkeeping conundrum, and at the rate he is going, he may just solidify himself as a club legend in the process.
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