Later this month Enzo Maresca will have a big decision to make. When he names his starting XI for the Conference League final, Chelsea will be expected to win no matter what team he selects.
Real Betis are the most established club they will have faced all competition but it will be of little excuse if Chelsea fail to beat them in Poland to bring down the curtain on a chaotic season once again. The real clincher for how good of a first year it has been for Maresca will not be determined in Warsaw but moreso what happens in the coming two Premier League matches.
Regardless, the question remains what he does with the squad. For most of this season Chelsea have heavily rotated, leaving out key players from either the UEFA squad or simply leaving them at home to rest whilst the fringes and youngsters do the job.
It has been Carabao Cup early rounds levels of changes throughout the group and knockout stages. For some it has been their only source of regular football, others have dipped in and out. Several have gained their first experiences in the senior game.
For Filip Jorgensen and Robert Sanchez in goal it has been the games they least want to play. The general rule has been that whichever goalkeeper plays on Thursday does not start at the weekend. For any hopeful No.1, this is not where they want to be.
Chelsea signed Jorgensen for him to compete with Sanchez – who was put back in as first choice under Maresca due to his supposed ball-playing qualities – but the reality has been quite different. Jorgensen only really got one run in the Premier League side and was quickly out of it again.
He has had little to do in Europe and Sanchez was clearly preferred. When Jorgensen got his chance he lost it within a month and Sanchez was reinstated with Maresca explaining that the former Brighton man simply needed a break.
Jorgensen made one notable mistake, costing Chelsea what would of been a hard-earned point at Aston Villa, and then he was back to the bench. Sanchez has managed to tone down the severity of his errors in the past two months since regaining the gloves but still rarely inspires confidence.
His backline does not look at ease when he is on the ball and the supporters transmit the same energy from the stands. It was Sanchez’s errant passing and the general style of possession play at the back against Ipswich Town which led to going long and conceding a goal. Maresca blamed the ‘environment’ (translation: atmosphere, or crowd reaction) for what happened.
Sanchez has lost the faith of Stamford Bridge and although he has played well in recent weeks, his position is far from stable. The fact that Jorgensen has been unable to replace him doesn’t say much about how Maresca views the former Villarreal man either.
After three summer transfer windows (two under the current sporting directors, Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley), Chelsea’s goalkeeping situation is still pretty shambolic. There is a strong case to make that they loaned out the best they had.
That is a view that was not widely held at the end of last season after Djordje Petrovic finished as Mauricio Pochettino’s preferred ‘keeper, but it has certainly played out like that. Now there is little argument that he deserves a shot at getting his place back.
Petrovic had a decent if not spectacular first season in England after moving for £14million from the MLS. He took his chance in the League Cup in December 2023 and made himself the No.1 after Sanchez picked up an injury. He never relinquished it and ended the season as the firm No.1.
His underlying metrics were poor in terms of shot-stopping but had been slightly skewed due to several deflected efforts in there. For a debut campaign as a 24-year-old in a new league, it was fine, especially for the money paid. Whether that is good enough for a team of Chelsea’s size and the historic ambitions, is a different question.
Petrovic’s ability on the ball quickly saw him singled out as someone who would not fit Maresca’s demands. He has made every attempt to rectify that whilst at RC Strasbourg after not being included in the pre-season squad last year.
Under Liam Rosenior’s management at the fellow BlueCo-owned club, Petrovic has been nothing short of sensational. He has a net post-shot expected goals metric of +9.7, meaning he has stopped nearly 10 more than would of been expected of him by the data.
In term’s of a shot-stopping season, it is genuinely sensational and comparing it to what he has actually conceded, Petrovic ranks as the sixth best performing goalkeeper in the whole of Europe. His kicking has come on as well.
Although he is aided by passes towards wingbacks in Rosenior’s three-man system that would not be immediately transferable to Chelsea, his confidence and quality under pressure has increased. Petrovic is making big saves and coming on at a good rate in possession as well.
He has made himself unignorable for Maresca and the Chelsea hierarchy this summer for pre-season and also maybe the Club World Cup. It is an opportunity that could have a knock-on effect.
Chelsea have massive hopes for teenage giant Mike Penders, who has been signed from Genk. He will get a look in over the summer as well but is expected to go on loan for more senior experience due to his age. Chelsea will hope for a Thibaut Courtois-style arc from Penders whilst they try and suit an acceptable alternative for the meantime.
Ideally, they will not have to buy another goalkeeper due to the sheer numbers they have. Sanchez, Jorgensen, and Petrovic cost a combined £61million and have so far not proved anything close to value for money. Kepa Arrizabalaga will be sold after his loan at Bournemouth ends whilst there are a constantly rotating cast of Cobham academy backups to train, play for the youth team, and go out periodically for experience themselves.
How to bridge the years between now and Penders being ready is a hard one. When Chelsea had Courtois coming through they also owned Petr Cech, one of the world’s best. They had to transition Cech out and did so smoothly between 2013/14 and 2014/15 before moving on permanently.
With neither Sanchez or Jorgensen excelling, and Petrovic in the strange position of having already been sent away initially as an unwanted member of the squad before proving himself, it is a complex scenario. Maresca has always been behind Sanchez and speaks highly of Jorgensen as well but when push comes to shove, it is hard to see how both can survive next season. One will play the Conference League final in a dilemma which tends to split opinion.
Does the cup goalkeeper get the chance to win the crown or is it all about going as strong as possible (even in the elite quality-lacking Conference League) and being ruthless to those who have gotten you there? That is the decision Maresca has later this month and then there will be no room for sentiment when it comes to forming his squad for next season either.
When Petrovic returns to fight his corner after being discarded last summer – Chelsea were open to selling him, after all – it will be a process which surely ends the Stamford Bridge career for one of the three goalkeepers, at least. The Serbian will, at least, be given a go at winning Maresca over, which is more than could be said of last summer. Whether or not he is the answer will have a ripple on the futures of Sanchez and Jorgensen.
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