Current loanee Djordje Petrovic wishes to replace Robert Sanchez as Chelsea number one after playing his part in a terrific 1-0 win over Roberto De Zerbi’s Marseille.
Djordje Petrovic Impresses for Strasbourg
Future Chelsea Number One?
Petrovic was a victim of the Blues’ ever-growing player group after being loaned to BlueCO-owned club Strasbourg in a bid from Enzo Maresca to cut down his 24/25 squad, despite being Mauricio Pochettino’s first-choice goalkeeper.
He impressed in the 23/24 season despite his team’s fluctuation over the campaign. Petrovic finished the Premier League season with a 65.77% save success rate, putting him in the same bracket as Raya, Ederson and Alisson for save percentage, on the other hand, his clean sheet record was poor, keeping only five clean sheets in 23 games.
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Petrovic has had a good start to life at Strasbourg, retaining a 75% save rate in the first three Ligue 1 games as well as making three important saves in “eye catching” 1-0 win over Marseille. After his impressive performance vs Marseille he stated: “that is the goal, to be number one at Chelsea, one of the best teams in the world”, sending Maresca a strong message.
Sanchez Remains Number One for Maresca
Despite making two mistakes leading to two goals for Brighton in Chelsea’s 4-2 win at the weekend, one of which was a misplaced pass to Carlos Baleba, Robert Sanchez has the full backing of his manager Maresca. The Italian was quoted as saying to the press after the game that “it’s the way we want to play” and “we already scored goals with Robert involved in the build up, but it’s important after the mistake the team continue in the same way”.
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So far this season Sanchez has kept two clean sheets and boasts a save percentage of 77.4% and an overall pass completion rate of 80.1% which is perfect for Maresca’s style of play. Despite this, fans have been quick to criticise Sanchez for his mistakes vs Brighton and poor saves vs Manchester City.
Filip Jorgensen the Favoured Successor?
Chelsea signed 22-year-old Villareal goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen in the summer transfer window for a fee of £20.7 million.
Jorgensen is currently favoured as the back-up goalkeeper over Petrovic, who was loaned to Strasbourg, playing in three games so far this season, the two legs of the Europa Conference League qualifier vs Servette and Carabao Cup fixture vs Barrow; keeping two clean sheets and sporting a save percentage of 80% across the three games.
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If he continues to impress he could break his way into the starting spot over Sanchez, who has an error prone nature.
Jorgensen had an impressive 23/24 La Liga campaign, despite only keeping six clean sheets for Villareal; with a 72.2% save percentage and completing over 1000 passes with a success rate of 80.7% it made him the perfect candidate for Maresca’s risky possession based play from the back.
Slonina Forgotten?
Another goalkeeper in Chelsea’s ranks is 20-year-old USA goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina who signed from the MLS for £12 million back in 2022. Slonina was once regarded as a potential successor to the likes of Kepa Arrizabalaga and Edouard Mendy but now appears to be just another name on the books for Chelsea. Slonina impressed in the MLS at just 18, keeping 12 clean sheets in 2022 as well as saving 66.7% of the shots he faced, now he is a prisoner of the Chelsea loan system, currently playing for League One’s Barnsley.
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Despite the lower-league nature of his loan move, he produced “easily his best home league performance” during Barnsley’s 1-1 draw vs Stockport, only being beaten by a 91’st minute deflected shot.
The 20-year-old’s breakthrough with the Blues does not look on the cards anytime soon despite his solid performances for Barnsley as Maresca has not indicated a plan for Slonina; he also would sit down the pecking order behind the more experienced options such as Sanchez, Jorgensen and Petrovic.
