Chelsea’s next goalkeeper announced: He could have the same impact as Lammens at Man Utd

Robin Bairner

• 14 Mar 2026 08:18 CDT
• 4 min read

News

Chelsea have endured a goalkeeping crisis this season, and one top pundit believes he knows who Liam Rosenior’s next No.1 will be, giving a glowing assessment of the youngster in the process.

Filip Jorgensen’s performance against PSG in the 5-2 Champions League loss on Wednesday has brought the goalkeeping position at Stamford Bridge into fresh focus. The Dane was preferred to Robert Sanchez in a controversial move from Rosenior at Parc des Princes and it was his loose pass that led to the hosts’ crucial second goal.

There is more scrutiny on the No.1 at Chelsea than at any other club in the Premier League, and that is set to prompt a change in the summer.

Compared

Robert Sánchez

GK

Chelsea

Robert Sánchez

GK

Chelsea

VS

Filip Jørgensen

GK

Chelsea

Filip Jørgensen

GK

Chelsea

€24.3M	ETV	€20M
€21.9M - €26.7M	ETV Range	€18M - €22M
28 years old (18 Nov, 1997)	Age	23 years old (16 Apr, 2002)
Spain	Nationality	Denmark

Mike Penders will be Chelsea’s goalkeeper next season

Sky Sports transfer correspondent Kaveh Solhekol has announced that Rosenior is likely to favour Mike Penders for the role next season, with the Englishman having already worked with the shot-stopper in Strasbourg.

He told The Premier League Show: “I think Chelsea’s new goalkeeper will be Mike Penders, who they already own and is on loan at Strasbourg. Liam Rosenior has worked with him before. He’s supposed to be one of the best goalkeepers in Belgium. He could have a similar impact to the impact Senne Lammens had at Manchester United.”

The transfer insider admits that this approach is unlikely to placate frustrated supporters who are growing weary of BlueCo’s persistence in leaning on young talent.

Solhekol added: “I don’t think Chelsea fans will be happy with that. They will say: ‘We want the best, why do we keep buying these projects who may come good in a few years now? We should be buying the best in class now because we’re Chelsea.’”

Is he good enough?

What Chelsea will really care about is his immediate impact on the first team. Will Penders come in and instantly deliver an upgrade to Sanchez and Jorgensen?

It’s unlikely. According to data analytics experts SciSports, Penders has a skill rating, which is calculated based on hundreds of in-game data points, of 64.6. This is a little above Jorgensen at 64.1, but is below Sanchez at 77.6.

The major attraction of the 20-year-old Belgian is his potential rating, which could climb as high as 81.4, according to the firm. If he were to reach that level, that would see him rank as one of the best in the world, with only Arsenal’s David Raya (85.5) substantially above that figure.

That might be good enough for Chelsea’s hierarchy, but the supporters are unlikely to be pleased with another gamble.