At long last, we are at the finishing line in Chelsea’s pursuit of a new goalkeeper. And this time, the information comes not from the various media sources who have missed the target so frequently during this saga, but rather from Frank Lampard himself.
The Chelsea head coach confirmed that Édouard Mendy had his medical this afternoon with the club. He didn’t say exactly where that medical occurred, but he’s also confident that the 28-year-old will be able to play this weekend, provided he tests negative for COVID-19.
“He’s having a medical as we speak. Subject to that being okay later on, he will become our player at that point.”
“As far as I’m aware, as long as he passes his tests before he travels, he will be tested with us on Thursday collectively as a team and if that is negative then he will be available to play.”
Lampard of course didn’t confirm Mendy as the new starting goalkeeper, but surely that’s just a matter of showing up. The competition provided by Kepa Arrizabalaga and Wilfredo Caballero shouldn’t pose a big problem, otherwise his signing makes very little sense.
“With Mendy coming in, it’s more competition so every reaction will have to be positive around that for Kepa and for Mendy to push to try and play in this team.
“We know the standards that are required of a goalkeeper in this team and we have to push for that.”
It should also help that Mendy comes with the recommendation of Petr Čech, in what will be one of his first big-impact decisions as Chelsea’s technical director advisor.
“Petr was important in that because goalkeeper is a very particular position and he was the best in the world at that position for a long time so he’s certainly had a big say in this situation from my point of view.
“I lean heavily on him when it comes to the goalkeepers day-to-day and planning for the future so he was very influential.”
-Frank Lampard; Source: Chelsea FC
Welcome, Édouard.