Chelsea and Brighton reach an agreement for Spanish goalkeeper Robert Sanchez
According to David Ornstein for The Athletic (subscription required), Chelsea reach an agreement with Brighton over the signing of goalkeeper Robert Sanchez for a fee worth around £25m.
The Spanish international will immediately undergo a medical to complete his move to Stamford Bridge. He is likely to provide stern competition to Kepa Arrizabalaga for the first-choice slot in the goalkeeping department.
Sanchez, 25, who has been at Brighton since the age of 15, was a regular starter for them until the second half of last season when he fell out of favour with Roberto De Zerbi.
Jason Steele took over the gloves at the Amex since that time. Sanchez was not even part of the Seagulls’ pre-season squad in the USA that competed in the Premier League Summer Series (which Chelsea won).
This is a sensible piece of business by Chelsea because they had to sign a keeper worthy of putting pressure on Kepa. Once Edouard Mendy departed to Saudi this summer, Mauricio Pochettino was left with Marcus Bettinelli as the number two with other young keepers.
Once Sanchez comes to the club, Kepa, who has had underwhelming moments as a Chelsea goalkeeper, would feel the pressure to perform every game. Consistency has been his main issue since arriving in 2018 from Athletic Bilbao.
With regard to what the Brighton man can offer, he is comfortable on the ball, at times too comfortable on it, has a good height to dominate his area from crosses and set-pieces and is excellent at shot-stopping.
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In a way, Sanchez could offer Chelsea more in between the sticks than Kepa even though the latter may get the first bite at the cherry come the start of the actual season. Sooner or later, it will be time for us to admit that the Kepa experiment hasn’t lived up to expectations.