The Senegal international has signed a five-year deal with the Blues.
Chelsea have completed the signing of goalkeeper Edouard Mendy from Rennes after agreeing to a fee of €22m. The Senegalese star has been long speculated to join the Blues, with Frank Lampard stating that he wants to strengthen the goalkeeping options. Mendy has put to paper on a five-year deal at Stamford Bridge.
The 28-year-old said,
“I am so excited to be joining Chelsea. It’s a dream for me to be a part of this exciting squad and to work with Frank Lampard and all of his coaching staff.” “I look forward to meeting my team-mates and can’t wait to get started.”
Chelsea director Marina Granovskia also had her say on the transfer of Mendy.
‘As soon as Petr Cech and our technical team identified Edouard as the most suitable goalkeeper to complement our existing group, there was only one player we wanted to bring in. Edouard arrives following a season of real success with Rennes, he is ambitious for more, and we welcome him to our club.’
Mendy enjoyed a brilliant campaign last term at Rennes, eventually grabbing the attention of the Blues. He kept a total of 9 clean sheets in 24 appearances and played a huge role behind Rennes finishing fourth in the Ligue 1 table.
The Senegalese star has been brought with a view to enhance the goalkeeping options and to a lesser extent, would replace Kepa Arrizabalaga as the Blues No.1. Kepa’s goalkeeping woes have followed him to this season as he produced a horror show against Liverpool in their recent Premier League fixture.
The Spanish goalkeeper, surprisingly the world’s expensive player in his position, was often benched in favour of Willy Caballero last season. The former Athletic club goalkeeper has also been linked with a return to La Liga, with Valencia wanting him on a two-year loan.
Although Kepa appears to have got the backing of Lampard, Mendy would probably assume the role of the Blues’ shot-stopper sooner.
Chelsea have been reckless in the transfer window thus far, signing a plethora of marquee players. However, the Blues have started the campaign not in the convincing way, suffering 2-0 defeat against the Premier League Champions Liverpool.
Timo Werner has been excellent in two of the games despite not finding the score sheet. But the concern is about Kai Havertz, who is far-off from the quality he has shown at Bayer Leverkusen.
