Insider: Chelsea tell first and second choice in key position they can both leave
Insider: Chelsea tell first and second choice in key position they can both leave
Chelsea's goalkeeper situation is something of a mess right now.
The incumbent is Robert Sanchez – but he's not trusted by anyone, and has been dropped from the first time 3 times in three seasons, at two different clubs.
Advertisement
The alternate is Djordje Petrovic. He had a great season on loan with Strasbourg, and was assumed to be coming back to take the number one shirt. But he's been left out of the first team group travelling to the Club World Cup.
Filip Jorgensen didn't impress when given first team chances this season, and Mike Penders is too young. Meanwhile an attempt to sign Mike Maignan from AC Milan failed this week.
Are we really to believe the briefs that the club are happy with Sanchez as starter? Not according to Graeme Bailey. He told the Chelsea Chronicle that he thought it was all a smoke screen.
Sanchez and Petrovic both told they can leave – despite the briefs
Robert Sanchez and Djordje Petrovic in a montage.
Advertisement
'This talk of Chelsea having full faith in their five goalkeepers, because we can throw Kepa into this as well, [isn't true]. There really is no faith from Enzo Maresca in this at all. Of those five, Enzo Maresca doesn't want any of them. Robert Sanchez has been told he can leave.
'Djordje Petrovic has been told he can leave and there's interest from Nice. There's quite a bit of interest in France in him. No shock given the season he just had.'
More sources needed to confirm surprise story
We can totally believe that is true – we just wish we could get it confirmed by one of the major transfer insiders. But nobody would be surprised if it's true that the club have concluded that neither Sanchez nor Petrovic are considered the elite player in goal we need to advance as a team.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
7 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Messi shows glimpses of his genius on Fifa's stage of fakery in Club World Cup opener
Lionel Messi during Inter Miami's Club World Cup match against Al Ahly. 'Watching him you got that feeling of a truly great footballer who can still see it all, but just can't call the shapes into being.' Lionel Messi during Inter Miami's Club World Cup match against Al Ahly. 'Watching him you got that feeling of a truly great footballer who can still see it all, but just can't call the shapes into being.' Photograph: SportsWell, this was at least a first. Gianni was right on that front. On a clammy, boisterous, vaguely hallucinogenic night at the Hard Rock Stadium, the opening act of Fifa's billion dollar death star, the newly bulked and tanned Club World Cup, did produce something genuinely new. This was surely the first major sporting event where the opening ceremony was infinitely more entertaining, and indeed comprehensible as a basic human activity, than the sporting spectacle that followed. By the end the best team in Africa, Al Ahly, had drawn 0-0 with a largely incoherent Inter Miami, a team that looked in the first half like people who had a dim idea what this sport is meant to look like, but who were also struggling through a terrible wall-eyed hangover to remember which way is forward. Advertisement The second half was better, mainly because some element of the Lionel Messi identity began to assert itself, a muscle memory of genius, like watching the aged Frank Sinatra still tootling out That's Life on stage in Vegas, still drawing huge gales of applause for basically nodding a lot and pointing at the crowd. Related: Borrowed culture and a plasticine burger – welcome to the Club World Cup and almost-football | Barney Ronay This was the only significant emotion here: a deep sadness at seeing this spectacle play out, the post Messi-Messi, wheeled on to this stage of fakery, an instrument of sporting beauty weaponised in his dotage to promote a power grab. And watching this you really got the scale of Fifa's act of deception, its betrayal of sport, the cynicism of its methods. Because everybody loves Messi, because there is a hard-wired emotional response, because you basically cannot resist. We will bolt the aged Messi to the front of our project, will play with your feelings, will in effect produce a kind of targeted sporting crystal meth. Advertisement Actually that sounds a bit too exciting. The football here was largely abysmal. Does this matter? This thing isn't really built to be a robust sporting entity. It is simply product, an attempt to capture a global market. This is Fifa enabling the foreign policy aims of Saudi Arabia, sticking a flag in the middle of the world's greatest popular culture megaphone. It's the projection of a single essentially random Swiss administrator. Although, to be fair, lots of things that were supposed to be bad were actually fine here. The talk of half-empty stadiums always seemed a bit over the top. The Fifa marketing machine is a juggernaut. Americans are good at turning up to stuff. And mainly it was never going to be empty because Messi was here, Miami loves Messi, and America loves stars. The Hard Rock is a castle-on-the-hill kind of structure, with its crisp white flying roof, dumped down in a vast expanse of shimmering tarmac. By the time the opening ceremonials came around the stands were pretty much full. The great Sir David appeared, looking graver now, hands folded like the fourth earl of Sandwich, producing one of those expensive-looking regal waves, not really a wave at all, just a power-flex. A DJ played club tunes, which was fun and infectious and gleefully received, not because of Fifa or football but because this is Miami and something about the air, the heat, the light just makes this a place of fun and pleasure and show, and because Miami is basically full of beautiful glowing people who look like they're probably eternal. Advertisement The ceremony was genuinely good, not the stiff, mannered stuff these affairs often dish up, but loads of people dancing and playing horns and looking like they actually enjoy doing this. A terrifying horror movie-style voice shouted 'take it to the worrrlllldd', in a manner that suggested its owner was in the process of being expertly throttled. Messi was last out on to the pitch. Everyone went predictably nuts, a shared static field of excitement, event glamour, the sense of being present at some kind of celebrity miracle. He started in a non-position, just walking about vaguely, like a man having a stroll while listening to a podcast. Messi does, though, still have the shuffle the little switch, the groove, the music in his head. Watching him you got that feeling of a truly great footballer who can still see it all, but just can't call the shapes into being, Mozart with tinnitus, Hemingway staggering about the Florida Keys in his soggy late days, still feeling his own greatness, still the matador, even while he's sinking pisco sours in a crab shack There was something frustrating, and even slightly offensive about seeing Messi like this. It expresses perfectly the deeply manipulative nature of this event, of owners and political interests who will take that thing you love and use it to move the world around, who know you simply cannot resist. That thing that gives you pleasure and feels like freedom and joy? We will inject it into your eyes like a forced stimulant, a kind of footballing pornography. Advertisement Al Ahly should have scored at least twice in the opening 20 minutes. They missed a penalty. The YouTube overlord IShowSpeed appeared in the half-time break and prodded a ball toward the goal a few times trailed by a man with a camera coiled into a furious crouch, as though preserving the last recorded sighting of the snow leopard. Related: Raids and fear cast a large shadow over Club World Cup's big launch Messi woke up in the second half. Miami were better. They might have won, or at least scored. But a goalless draw felt right. The people in the stadium were the only winners here, in a city that just loves its nights. Otherwise Saturday in America was a day for a divisive, autocratic president to stage his own hugely overblown and narcissistic Grand Parade. It was in the end a pathetic spectacle, and in every sense of the word, the ghost of something great and pure and much-loved, out there being sold back to you like an empty replica shirt.
Hamilton Spectator
9 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
An Argentine named Ustari, not Messi, shines for Inter Miami and earns MVP in first CWC game
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — An Argentine not named Messi was the MVP for Inter Miami in the Club World Cup on Saturday night. The hero in the tournament opener was goaltender Oscar Ustari. Ustari made eight saves, including a penalty and goal-line intervention, as Miami played Egypt's Al Ahly to a scoreless draw in the Group A tournament opener. Ustari's save of a header in the 33rd minute was second only to stopping Trezeguet's penalty just before halftime and making sure danger was averted when the ball bounced back to Al Ahly's forward. The 38-year-old Ustari returned to a World Cup stage in this new Club World Cup format for the first time since winning the U-20 World Cup in 2005 — with none other than Messi, Inter Miami's captain. Before joining Inter Miami, Ustari was captain of C.F. Pachuca, also in the tournament, but faced controversy because Grupo Pachuca also owns Club León, which was removed by FIFA and had its appeal rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Ustari made 124 appearances with the 'Tuzos' before playing briefly for Audax Italiano in the first division of Chile. He was signed as a free agent in September 2024 by Inter Miami. He has played 22 games, including eight in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. What Ustari said 'I don't like to talk about myself. The team did a great job defensively and that is what I most care about.' 'I remember being retired and knew that my return would come on a field, so I'm very happy about it (being back).' 'I thought we were superior, that's what I think. The game left me with good feelings, but our next rival is very different.' What Suarez said 'We didn't think their keeper would make so many saves, he was the key player in the game along with Oscar in the first half, but that shows that goalkeepers can earn you points as well.' — Luis Suarez, Inter Miami forward. ___ AP soccer:
San Francisco Chronicle
15 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
The Club World Cup is finally up and running -- and soccer may never be the same
MIAMI GARDENS (AP) — After more than a year of uncertainty and criticism, the Club World Cup kicked off in Miami on Saturday and soccer may never be the same. At least that's what FIFA president Gianni Infantino has been telling anyone who would listen. 'This tournament will be the start of something historic that will change our sport for the better,' he said this week as part of an exhausting schedule of public engagements to drum up interest in the month-long event staged across 11 cities in the United States. Soccer's newest tournament is what the sport has been waiting for, Infantino says, and on Saturday, despite considerable pushback and obstacles, he turned his personal passion project into a reality. The Swiss lawyer, who holds one of the most powerful positions in the world as head of soccer's governing body, was on hand at a largely full Hard Rock Stadium to watch Lionel Messi's Inter Miami draw 0-0 with Egyptian team Al Ahly in the opening game of his super-sized Club World Cup. Influence The match may have been underwhelming, but the occasion — kicked off with a lavish opening ceremony featuring music, dance routines and fireworks — was a moment of immense pride for Infantino and conclusive proof of his influence over the most popular sport on the planet. Despite his assertions, it's not clear how much soccer really wanted another elite tournament. But this was his baby — so much so that his name is etched not once, but twice, onto a giant golden trophy crafted by Tiffany & Co. that will be lifted by the winner on July 13. It has gone ahead against the backdrop of legal challenges in Europe, threats of strike action from players and fears of injury and burnout for the biggest stars. There have been concerns about overreach by FIFA - which has traditionally focused on national team soccer — and the detrimental impact a new club competition would have on domestic leagues. But nothing was going to stand in the way of Infantino's plans to expand the Club World Cup from its previous guise as a seven-team mid-season mini tournament to a 32-team extravaganza that could one day rival the Champions League and Premier League as one of the most popular and wealthiest competitions in the world. The tournament is now locked in Time will tell if it lives up to Infantino's billing, but he has navigated the biggest hurdle of all by getting this inaugural edition off the ground. It is locked into the calendar — every four years — and teams such as Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain have already qualified for the next edition in 2029. "Maybe not now in its first edition, but it will become an incredibly important competition to win,' PSG coach Luis Enrique said. He may have a point. Peculiarly, and despite the global nature of soccer, the club game has largely been restricted to continental competition, aside from the previous guise of the Club World Cup, which was often looked on as little more than a exhibition. Do fans really want it? Still, it remains unclear how much of an appetite there is for another soccer tournament in a calendar that has reached saturation point. So a crowd of more than 60,000 at the Hard Rock Stadium likely came as a relief to FIFA, though it is not known how many of those in attendance paid anything like the $349 being quoted for seats in December. FIFA has not offered definitive numbers on the amount of tickets sold for the tournament as a whole and prices were slashed as the opening game approached. But there were only pockets of empty seats in the stands, with many red-shirted fans of Al Ahly in attendance. 'We've been looking forward to it for a long time,' said Peter Sadek a fan originally from Egypt and now living in Orlando. 'At least 50 more just from our area (are coming). It's been bubbling up for a long time and you can see how many are here.' Other Al Ahly fans had traveled directly from Egypt, with red shirts outnumbering the pink of Miami in parts of the stadium. Messi magic He certainly tried. His stunning curling effort from long range, deep into extra time would have been the perfect finish. Instead, Al Ahly goalkeeper Mohamed Elshenawy tipped the ball onto the crossbar to deny the Argentine great and Infantino that prize moment. Not even Infantino can have everything, it seems. ___ ___
