Goalkeepers, What’s Going On?

A few weeks ago Chelsea announced it had released Ross ‘Not The Next Peter Shilton’ Turnbull and Henrique Hilario, to no ones surprise. The clearing out of the two most likely substitutes for club legend Petr Cech, has left us with the goalkeeping likes of: Cech, Jamal Blackman, Sam Walker, Matej Delac, Mitchell ‘Looks A Bit Like Turnbull’ Beeney, Ben Killip (no, I didn’t know he existed either) and Thibaut Courtois. CFC recently confirmed what we already suspected: The latter would continue his loan at Atletico Madrid for another season in a bid to establish and prepare himself for Belgium at the 2014 World Cup. These departures essentially leave us with Petr Cech and a bunch of academy players as our goalies. Dear oh dear. We are one injury away from young and unproven goalkeepers taking center stage and that doesn’t make me feel comfortable. (Blackman would probably be the first choice out of this lot and if anyone saw him play against City in the post season games played in America, you’d know the current goalie situation is a dire one.)
So, what do we do? Well, it’s not rocket science to see we need to buy a quality back up goalkeeper. Someone good enough to fill in for Cech but not too good that he expects to compete with him for a starting position. But who? Well, lets analyse the options. These are options as backups, not first choices, so I won’t chuck out stats and make you think these guys are the best keepers in the world – they are merely suitable and adequate back ups to Cech.
Mark Schwarzer: This big Aussie provided years of decent quality service to our nearest neighbours – Fulham. However for unknown reasons they decided to release him last season and their loss may just be our gain. What Schwarzer brings to the table is his invaluable experience despite his age. Since he isn’t a contender to play for Australia in the World Cup next summer, he may not require consistent selection and play, unlike Courtois had we decided to keep him around. He may be content to Collect a nice check and llay the odd game or two. The downside to Schwarzer? Well his age obviously. He turns 41 this October and so with that, he maybe a only short term but very viable option for Chelsea until Courtois returns.
Mickael Landreau: Another experienced goalkeeper available on a free is ex-French international Landreau now that his contract with Bastia has expired. He would have been a really good option for CFC given experience but it has been reported that he is set to join Monaco, making him no longer an option. His joining may be dependent on whether Victor Valdes also joins Monaco as is being suggested. Stay tuned but if he goes – sad times.
Alex McCarthy: This current Reading goalkeeper and nearly England international would be well worth considering. With Reading having just been relegated, he could be available for a fairly nominal price. In addition, he brings the bonus of qualifying as a home grown lad. Cheap, young, potential sell on value and a decent shot stopper, certainly makes McCarthy worth looking at.
Those are just three names that popped into my head and I’m sure there are many other options, but these are the ones I know of and who I think we have a decent chance of bringing in. The difficulty in finding a keeper is that we are only looking to to sign a backup keeper, not a first choice. Not even a second choice since everyone knows Courtois is Cech’s heir apparent. Game time promises can affect potential deals and young ambitious keepers wont be satisfied sitting on the bench – unlike Hilario. But at the very least they’ll leave with some nice silverware as a parting gift for their time with the club. Not too shabby. In the end its all down to Jose, Emenalo and the boys to sort out a deal for a backup keeper, and lets just hope they choose well.
And sadly, Carlo Cudicini isn’t available as an option.