Matej Delac, Chelsea agree contract extension

The temptation was fairly strong to go with a headline along the likes of 'Young Chelsea goalkeeper extends contract' but then we decided we didn't want to be too clickbait-y and mean, to make y'all think that it was Thibaut Courtois.  Speaking of which, can we get to that, please?

Unlike Courtois who is signed until 2016, fellow '92er Matej Delac only had one year left on his contract.  So just like last summer, it's now been extended by an additional season.

I am very pleased to have extended my contract with @chelseafc for another two years.

— Matej Delac (@MatejDelac) July 12, 2014

Or does he mean extended by two more years, for a total of three seasons?  Could be either, I suppose, but I'm assuming that the process is the same as last summer and so his new contract now runs through 2015-16.

Five years, two successful and three failed loan spells ago -- including Vitesse, Ceske Budejovice, and Vitoria SC -- Delac was going to be the greatest goalkeeper ever for his club and country.  He's still the youngest ever player to get called up for international duty by Croatia.  Last year, in a pair of loans, first to Serbian first division side FK Vojvodina, where he was finally an undisputed starter, and then to Bosnian first division side (and Cup winners) FK Sarajevo, where he got a handful of games as a backup, Delac seemed to finally find his feet again.

I'm assuming he'll go out on loan again, but Delac is still young and he's got all the physical attributes to become a very good goalkeeper.  In a business sense, this extension should allow Chelsea to collect a decent transfer fee should we sell.  In a footballing sense, he may yet aspire to something greater than just another Ross Turnbull and it keeps our options open while the Courtois-Cech situation gets sorted out.

In any case, good luck to him.